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NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 

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,—/    t.a/.x-. 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped 
below  unless  recalled  sooner.    It  may  be 
renewed  only  once  and  must  be  brought  to 
the  North  Carolina  Collection  for  renewal. 


MAR-9-3-1992- 


NrAfH 


THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF 
CHARLES  BRANTLEY  AYCOCK 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://archive.org/details/lifespeechesofchconn 


AYCOCK  IN  HIS  LATER  YEARS 

This  is  the  last  photograph  taken  of  him. 


&  rts*>cstsustf  /Z/pn**4L~  j 


THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 


OF 

Charles  Brantley  Aycock 

By 

R,  D.  W.  CONNOR 

Secretary  North   Carolina  Historical   Commission    and   Author   of 
"Cornelius  Hornett,  An  Essay  in  North  Carolina  History,"  Etc. 

and 

CLARENCE  POE 

'Editor  of  "The  Progressive  Farmer,"  and  Author  of  "A  Southerner 
in  Europe."  "Where  Half  the  World  is  Waking  Up,"  Etc. 


GARDEN  CITY  NEW  YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

1912 


Copyright,  1912,  by 
Mrs.  Cora  W.  Aycock 

All  rights  reserved,  including  that  of 

translation  into  foreign  languages 

including  the  Scandinavian. 


To 
The  Boys  and  Girls  of  North  Carolina 

whom  he  loved,  for  whose  development  he 

so  passionately  yearned,  and  for  whom 

he  ever  gave  the  gladdest  service 

of  his  heroic  life, 

This  Book  is  dedicated 


PREFACE 

We  have  earnestly  sought  throughout  this  book  to 
avoid  writing  in  a  spirit  of  eulogy  or  in  a  spirit  of  par- 
tisanship. We  should  like  for  every  North  Carolinian 
to  know  Ay  cock  as  he  really  was.  As  he  said  but  a 
few  months  before  his  death  in  introducing  Mr.  Wil- 
liam J.  Bryan:  "It  has  never  been  my  custom  in  pre- 
senting a  speaker  to  an  audience  to  eulogize  him.  If  he 
needs  it,  he  does  not  deserve  it;  if  he  deserves  it,  he  does 
not  need  it."  The  authors  have  sought  to  write  with 
a  full  recognition  of  this  fact.  If  despite  our  efforts 
our  volume  still  appears  eulogistic,  it  is  not  our  fault, 
but  because  the  mere  faithful  delineation,  an  un- 
touched negative  of  his  character,  as  it  were,  itself 
gives  that  impression.  It  would,  in  fact,  be  an  indict- 
ment of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  if  the  man  best 
beloved  among  them  of  all  his  generation  had  not  pos- 
sessed such  a  character.  We  can  only  assure  the  reader 
that  we  have  sought  to  hold  the  mirror  up  to  nature. 
In  what  we  have  said  in  this  chapter  about  unselfish- 
ness and  sincerity  as  the  keynote  of  his  character,  for 
example,  we  have  simply  recorded  the  undoubted  facts 
as  they  are  —  writing  no  more  in  a  spirit  of  eulogy  than 
we  shall  write  in  a  spirit  of  criticism  in  recording  the 
fact  that  as  Governor  he  probably  pardoned  too 
many  prisoners,  or  as  a  lawyer  was  not  methodical  in 
business. 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

We  have  also  sought  to  avoid  partisanship.  Never- 
theless, the  fact  remains  that  Aycock  was  a  party 
leader  and  that  he  was  an  intense,  insistent,  unyielding, 
even  if  never  bitter  or  vindictive,  partisan.  It  has 
been  necessary  for  us  to  record  the  facts  as  we  see  them 
—  and,  in  the  main,  as  he  saw  them  —  about  the  times 
in  which  he  lived.  If  any  statement  we  have  made 
seems  partisan,  it  is  only  because  the  bare  record  of 
the  fact  as  we  see  it,  itself  seems  partisan;  and  we  would 
always  have  it  remembered  that  we  have  set  down 
nothing  in  bitterness  but  everything  in  candor. 

The  authors  cannot  too  heartily  thank  the  scores  of 
friends  of  Governor  Aycock  who  have  aided  us.  With- 
out their  help  this  volume  could  not  have  been  pre- 
pared. First  of  all,  Judge  Robert  W.  Winston  should 
be  named.  We  return  especial  thanks  to  Judge  H.  G. 
Connor  for  the  chapter  on  "Aycock  as  a  Lawyer" 
which  we  have  inserted  substantially  as  he  wrote  it. 
A  partial  list  of  the  others  to  whom  we  are  under 
especial  obligations  follows: 

Dr.  K.  P.  Battle,  Chapel  Hill;  Marion  Butler,  Washington; 
Prof.  E.  C.  Brooks,  Durham;  Rev.  W.  C.  Cole,  Chapel  Hill;  W.  T. 
Caho,  Bayboro;  Hugh  Chatham,  Winston-Salem;  R.  D.  Collins, 
Linden;  Josephus  Daniels,  Raleigh;  R.  A.  Doughton,  Sparta; 
J.  D.  Davis,  Fremont;  C.  C.  Daniels,  Wilson;  Judge  F.  A.  Daniels, 
Goldsboro;  A.  H.  Eller  Winston-Salem;  Rev.  J.  H.  Foy,  Roseville, 
Cal.;  Dr.  J.  I.  Foust.  Greensboro;  Ex-Gov.  A.  B.  Glenn,  Winston- 
Salem;  Jonathan  Hooks,  Fremont;  Rev.  J.  D.  Hufham,  Hender- 
son; J.  Allen  Holt,  Oak  Ridge;  Archibald  Johnson,  Thomas ville; 
Dr.  J.  Y.  Joyner,  Raleigh;  Rev.  Livingston  Johnson,  Raleigh; 
Bishop  J.  C.  Kilgo,  Durham;  J.  D.  Langston,  Goldsboro;  Fred. 
A.  Olds,  Raleigh;  P.  M.  Pearsall,  New  Bern;  Dr.  Robert.  P.  Pell, 
Spartanburg,  S.  C;  J.  R.  Rodwell,  Warrenton;  Miss  Frances 
Renfrow,  Raleigh;  Bishop  Edward  Rondthaler,  Winston-Salem; 


PREFACE  ix 

Westcott  Roberson,  High  Point;  M.  L.  Shipman,  Raleigh;  Dr.  C. 
Alphonso  Smith,  Charlottesville,  Va.;  Francis  D.  Winston, 
Windsor;  Dr.  Geo.  T.  Winston,  Asheville;  C.  S.  Wooten,  Mt. 
Olive;  Prof.  H.  H.  Williams,  Chapel  Hill. 

It  should  be  added  that  where  any  reference  to  either 
of  the  authors  has  seemed  necessary,  the  author  named 
second  herewith  has  used  the  term  "the  writer,"  and 
the  author  first  named  some  other  designation. 

R.  D.  W.  Connor. 

Clarence  Poe. 


CHRONOLOGY 

1859  November  1st,  born  in  Wayne  County  near 
Nahunta  (now  Fremont).  Parents:  Ben- 
jamin Aycock,  Serena  Hooks  Aycock. 

1875  August  21st,  his  father  died. 

1876  At  school  at  Nahunta,  Wilson,  and  Kinston. 

1877  Entered  the  University  of  North  Carolina. 

1879  Made  his  first  public  address  in  interest  of  edu- 

cation in  Mangum  Township,  in  what  is 
now  Durham  County. 

1880  Graduated  at  the  University  in  June,  winning 

Bingham  Essayist  Medal  and  Willie  P. 
Mangum  Medal  for  best  graduating  ora- 
tion. In  summer  and  fall  canvassed  Wayne 
County  for  the  Democratic  ticket. 

1881  Began  practice  at  law  in  Goldsboro  with  Frank 

A.  Daniels.  May  25th,  married  Miss 
Varina  Davis  Woodard  of  Wilson.  July, 
elected  Superintendent  Public  Instruction 
for  Wayne  County. 
1888  Canvassed  his  Congressional  district  as  Cleve- 
land presidential  elector,  winning  distinction 
as  a  political  debater  and  a  student  of  the 
tariff. 

1890  Candidate  for  Congress  before  the  Democratic 

Convention  which  named  Hon.  B.  F.  Grady. 

1891  Married  Miss  Cora  L.  Woodard,  younger  sister  of 
■*-  hisfirst  wife,  who  had  died  the  previous  year. 

xi 


xii  CHRONOLOGY 

1892  Elector-a-t-large  on  the  Cleveland  ticket;  can- 

vassed the  State  with  Mr.  Marion  Butler, 
Populist  nominee  for  elector-at-large.  Au- 
gust 14  th,  his  mother  died. 

1893  Appointed  United  States  District  Attorney  for 

the  Eastern  District  of  North  Carolina, 
which  position  he  held  till  1897. 

1894,  1896  Again  canvassed  the  State  for  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket. 

1898  May  12th,  sounded  the  keynote  of  the  "white 
supremacy"  campaign  in  speech  at  Laurin- 
burg  with  Hon.  Locke  Craig.  Became 
/  known  as  the  most  effective  Democratic 
speaker  in  this  campaign,  his  debates  with 
Dr.  Cyrus  Thompson  becoming  historic. 

1900  April  11th,  unanimously  nominated  for  Governor 

of  North  Carolina,  all  other  candidates 
withdrawing  before  the  convention  met. 
Became  the  leader  in  the  campaign  for  the 
adoption  of  the  constitutional  amendment 
for  eliminating  negro  vote,  promising  the 
people  that  if  elected  Governor  he  would 
wage  a  persistent  campaign  for  public 
education. 

August  2nd,  elected  Governor  by  the 
largest  majority  over  opposition  ever  given 
a  candidate  in  North  Carolina  —  60,354. 

1901  January  15th,  inaugurated  Governor.      Imme- 

diately began  a  campaign  for  improving 
the  State's  public  schools. 
1904     His    campaigns    for    public    education    having 
attracted  national  attention,  he  was  invited 


CHRONOLOGY  xiii 

by  educational  authorities  of  Maine  to 
canvass  that  State  in  behalf  of  the  schools. 
He  was  accompanied  in  this  canvass  by 
Hon.  Francis  D.  Winston. 
1905  January.  He  returned  to  Goldsboro  as  a  pri- 
vate citizen,  resuming  his  law  practice  with 
Hon.  Frank  A.  Daniels.  June  14th,  received 
degree  of  LL.  D.  from  University  of  Maine. 

1908  One  of  the  leading  speakers  in  the  campaign  for 

State-wide  prohibition. 

1909  January.     Moved  to  Raleigh,  forming  law  part- 

nership with  Hon.  Robert  W.  Winston. 
This  partnership  existed  until  Aycock's 
death. 

1911  May  20th,  announced  himself  a  candidate  for 

Democratic  nomination  for  United  States 
Senate. 

1912  April  4th,  died  suddenly  in  Birmingham,  Ala., 

while  addressing  the  Alabama  Educational 
Association  on  Universal  Education.  April 
7th,  buried  in  Oakwood  Cemetery,  Raleigh, 
N.  C. 


CONTENTS 

Part  I. —  Life  of  Aycock  page 

Preface         vii 

Chronology xi 

Introduction xix 

I.     Ancestry,  Boyhood  and  Early  Education         3 
II.     From  Farm  Boy  to  University  Leader       21 
III.     The  Foundations  on  Which  Aycock  Built 

His  Character 32 

44 
61 
73 
90 
111 


IV.     Aycock  as  a  Lawyer 
V.     The  Menace  of  Negro  Suffrage 
VI.     The  Suffrage  Campaign  of  1900  . 
VII.     A  Progressive  Administration 
VIII.     "  The  Educational  Governor  "    . 
IX.     Aycock's  Ideals  of  Citizenship  and  Pub- 
lic Service 140 

X.     Aycock  the  Southerner:     His  Attitude 
Toward  the  Negro  and  Toward 

Sectional  Issues 153 

XI.     Aycock  the  Man:     His  Relations  to  His 

Friends  and  His  Fellows        .      .      .     164 
XII.     Intimate  Glimpses  of  Aycock:     Personal 

Traits,  Tastes,  and  Characteristics        177 

XIII.  Aycock's  Later  Years  and  His  Candidacy 

for  the  Senate 189 

XIV.  His  Last  Days  and  His  Relations  to  His 

Family 204 

xv 


xvi  CONTENTS 

Part  II. —  Aycock's  Speeches 

PAGE 

I.     The  Keynote  of  the  Amendment  Cam- 
paign :    Speech  Accepting  the  Nomi- 
nation for  Governor.      (1900)     .      .     211 
II.     The  Ideals  of  a  New  Era:     Inaugural 

Address.     (1901) 228 

III.  A  Message  to  the  Negro;     Address  at 

Negro  State  Fair.     (1901)   ...     247 

IV.  Speech  Defending  His  Policies  and  Ad- 

ministration:    Democratic  State 
Convention.     (1904)        ....     252 
V.     The  South  and  the  Union:     Speech  at 

Charleston  Exposition.     (1902)        .     268 
VI.     The   Genius  of  North  Carolina  Inter- 
preted: Greensboro  Reunion  Speech. 

(1903) 272 

VII.     How  the  South  May  Regain  Its  Prestige: 
Address    at   Southern   Educational 

Association.     (1903) 279 

VIII.     Ay  cock   on   the   Hustings:     A   Typical 

Campaign  Stump  Speech.     (1910)        287 
XI.     Robert  E.Lee:     Address.     (1912)     .      .     309 
X.     Universal  Education :     Unfinished  Speech 

at  Birmingham,  Ala.,  April  4, 1912   .     316 
XI.     A  Last  Message  to  the  People  of  His 
State:     Address  Prepared  for  De- 
livery in  Raleigh,  April  12,  1912  .     .     325 
Index 365 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Aycock  In  His  Later  Years 


Frontispiece 


FACING   PAGE 


Benjamin  Aycock  ......       8 

Serena  Hooks  Aycock  .         .         .         .         .         .16 

Aycock  As  a  Young  Man     .         .         .         .         .24 

Old  South  Building,  State  University  .         .     28 

Aycock  As  He  Appeared  While  Governor  .         .  214 

Governor  Aycock  Delivering  His  Inaugural  Ad- 
dress        238 

Outline  for  Governor   Aycock's    Universal   Edu- 
cation Speech         ......  322 


INTRODUCTION 

IN  LOOKING  over  the  completed  chapters  of  this 
volume,  that  which  seems  to  stand  out  clearest, 
even  where  our  first  aim  has  been  to  record  achieve- 
ments and  labors,  is  the  personal  character  of  Governor 
Ay  cock.  It  is  well  if  this  is  true.  It  is,  in  our  opinion, 
not  his  greatest  distinction  that  he  was  at  one  time 
Governor  of  North  Carolina  and  one  of  the  greatest 
of  our  Governors,  nor  yet  that  he  was  a  leader  in  a 
great  revolution  that  established  the  political  suprem- 
acy of  the  white  race  in  North  Carolina,  and  in  another 
revolution  that  made  universal  education  forever  "a 
matter  of  course  instead  of  a  matter  of  debate"  in  the 
Commonwealth.  His  greatest  distinction  is  rather 
that  he  was  the  most  beloved  North  Carolinian  of  his 
generation. 

The  heritage  of  Aycock's  achievements  is  indeed  a 
treasure  which  his  mother  State  will  cherish,  proudly 
and  lovingly,  for  many  generations  to  come;  but  even 
finer  than  the  heritage  of  his  achievement  is  the  heritage 
of  his  character. 

Aycock  not  only  won  the  support  of  his  fellows,  but 
he  won  their  trust.  He  not  only  won  their  trust,  but 
he  won  their  love.  "Love,"  we  know,  is  not  a  word 
that  comes  easily  to  a  man's  lips  in  speaking  of  other 
men.  "He  was  my  friend,"  "He  is  a  man  I  always 
admired,"  "He  is  the  man  I  am  supporting  "  —  so  the 


xx  INTRODUCTION 

phrases  usually  run.  But  such  words  did  not  express 
the  feeling  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  for  the  man 
whose  life-story  this  book  tells.  When  the  mournful 
news  of  his  death  was  flashed  over  the  wires  from  Bir- 
mingham, not  a  mere  select  number  of  friends,  but 
thousands  and  thousands  of  sturdy,  rough-featured 
men  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea,  from  day  laborers 
to  millionaires,  said  in  husky  tones,  "I  loved  Aycock." 
Scores  and  scores  of  strong  men  in  all  walks  of  life 
have  sent  us  reminiscences  for  publication  in  this 
volume  —  quiet  men,  not  given  to  sentiment  and  averse 
to  effusive  speech  —  and  through  them  all  runs  the 
same  vein  of  feeling,  "We  loved  Aycock  and  the  people 
loved  him." 

In  fact,  the  knowledge  of  the  hold  that  he  had  upon 
the  affections  of  the  people  was  one  of  the  greatest 
happinesses  of  his  latter  years.  The  fact  comes  out 
humorously  in  his  Asheboro  speech:  "Bless  your  life, 
I  was  for  a  man  for  Governor  two  years  ago  and  he  got 
beat.  Men  on  the  other  side  said  I  was  trying  to  force 
his  nomination  because  I  had  been  Governor  and  every- 
body loved  me.  And  I  believe  everybody  did  love 
me.  But  as  soon  as  they  got  that  report  out,  they 
went  and  voted  for  the  other  man  just  to  show  me  that 
I  couldn't  run  them." 

Inevitably  the  question  presents  itself:  What  was 
the  cause  of  this  distinction?  Why  did  North  Caro- 
linians admire  other  leaders,  but  love  Aycock?  And  the 
answer  must  be,  it  was  a  case  of  love  begetting  love. 
He  never  knew  what  it  was  to  cringe  before  the  people 
for  their  favor  or  bend  the  knee  that  thrift  might  follow 
fawning.     He  would  not  have  flattered  Neptune  for 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

his  trident,  or  Jove  for  his  power  to  thunder.  But 
Aycock,  as  Governor  Jarvis  said,  "had,  like  Vance,  a 
genuine  love  and  affection  for  all  the  people  of  the 
State."  His  great  heart  simply  overflowed  with  love 
for  "folks"  —  he  would  have  preferred  this  homely 
term  instead  of  "people"  —  for  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  "folks";  and  men  simply  measured  to  him  again  as 
he  had  meted  to  them.  It  was  only  six  days  before  his 
death  that  a  friend  brought  to  his  attention  a  saying 
of  Tolstoi's :  "  We  think  there  are  circumstances  when 
we  may  deal  with  human  beings  without  love,  and  there 
are  no  such  circumstances:  you  may  make  bricks,  cut 
down  trees,  or  hammer  iron  without  love,  but  you  can- 
not deal  with  men  without  it."  And  his  career  affords 
striking  proof  of  the  truth  of  Tolstoi's  saying.  Editor 
Archibald  Johnson  stated  the  truth  at  the  time  of  Ay- 
cock's  death:  "The  secret  of  his  strength  was  that  he 
was  a  great  lover.  His  heart  was  as  tender  as  a  woman's, 
and  warm  and  true.  His  affection  for  the  State  was  a 
passion  that  glowed  perpetually."  And  this  love  for 
his  fellows  which  was  Aycock's  ruling  passion  —  how 
completely  it  measured  up  to  the  requirements  set 
forth  by  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles:  unselfish, 
"  seeketh  not  her  own,  envieth  not ";  sincere,"  vaunteth 
not  itself  and  is  not  puffed  up  ";  and  "thinketh  no  evil." 
As  an  official  he  regarded  his  first  duty  as  being  to  the 
State;  as  a  man,  to  his  fellows;  as  a  Democrat,  to  his 
party;  as  a  husband  and  father,  to  his  family;  as  an 
humble  Christian,  to  his  God.  He  found  absolutely 
no  relation  in  life  in  which  he  could  think  first  of  self. 
His  next  most  remarkable  trait  was  his  absolute 
freedom  from  all  pretense.     As  has  been  so  well  said  of 


xxii  INTRODUCTION 

him,  he  had  "the  simplicity  of  sincerity  and  the 
sincerity  of  simplicity." 

We  emphasize  these  things  because  after  the  in- 
timate study  of  all  phases  of  Aycock's  life  required  in 
the  preparation  of  this  book,  it  is  our  conclusion  that 
while  it  is  well  for  every  North  Carolina  boy  and  girl 
to  know  of  Aycock  the  Governor,  Aycock  the  party 
leader,  and  Aycock  the  educational  crusader,  it  is  even 
better  for  them  to  know  Aycock  the  man. 

In  the  finest  passage  in  his  "French  Revolution,'" 
Carlyle  recounts  the  deeds  (and  misdeeds)  of  the  dead 
sovereign  of  France  and  then  moralizes  wisely:  "Man, 
Symbol  of  Eternity,  imprisoned  into  time,  it  is  not  thy 
works  which  are  all  mortal,  infinitely  little,  and  the 
greatest  no  greater  than  the  least,  but  only  the  Spirit 
thou  workest  in,  that  can  have  worth  or  continuance." 

It  is  not  because  of  the  offices  he  held,  not  because 
of  the  power  he  exerted,  but  because  of  the  spirit  he 
worked  in  that  the  echoes  of  Aycock's  influence,  in  the 
language  of  his  beloved  Tennyson,  will  — 

"  Roll  from  soul  to  soul 
And  grow  forever  and  forever  " 

in  the  State  he  loved  and  served.  Not  every  boy  who 
reads  this  volume  can  hold  high  office  as  Aycock  held 
it.  There  is  but  one  North  Carolinian  at  the  time 
among  our  more  than  two  millions  who  can  sit  in  the 
office  of  Governor.  Not  every  one  can  sway  the  people 
as  Aycock  swayed  them.  To  but  one  man  in  a  genera- 
tion is  it  given  to  have  the  love  and  loyalty  of  the 
people  as  he  had  them,  and  even  his  great  heart  and 
great  brain  could  not  have  won  for  him  such  influence 


INTRODUCTION  xxiii 

had  not  a  crisis  in  the  State's  history  also  brought  the 
opportunity  for  the  fullest  exercise  of  his  powers. 
But  to  work  in  Aycock's  unselfish  spirit  for  the  up- 
building of  North  Carolina,  to  share  his  passionate 
yearning  for  the  uplift  of  all  classes  of  our  people,  to 
fight  always,  as  he  fought,  for  "the  equal  right  of  every 
child  born  on  earth  to  burgeon  out  all  there  is  within 
him,"  and  to  feel,  as  he  felt,  that  every  civic  duty, 
whether  exercised  by  the  humblest  voter  or  the  highest 
official,  is  a  sacred  trust  to  be  used  never  for  one's  own 
aggrandizement  or  profit,  but  only  for  the  public  good 
—  these  things  all  of  us  may  do,  and  they  constitute 
the  teaching  of  Aycock's  life. 


Part  I 
LIFE  OF  AYCOCK 


The  Life  and  Speeches  of 
Charles  B.  Aycock 

CHAPTER  I 
CHARLES  BRANTLEY  AYCOCK 

ANCESTRY,  BOYHOOD  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

THE  ancestors  of  Charles  Brantley  Aycock  were 
plain,  simple  farmers  who  cared  nothing  for 
genealogies  and  preserved  no  family  records. 
However,  the  constant  reappearance  of  the  same 
family  names  through  several  generations  enables  us 
to  trace  the  line  of  his  ancestors  back  to  colonial  times 
with  some  degree  of  accuracy.  They  were  among 
the  earliest  settlers  upon  the  fertile  lands  that  lie  along 
the  upper  waters  of  Neuse  River,  and  its  tributaries, 
in  what  is  now  Wayne  County,  North  Carolina.  It 
appears  that,  some  time  prior  to  the  Revolution,  mem- 
bers of  the  family  migrated  to  that  section  from  the 
northeastern  end  of  the  colony.  William  Aycock,  the 
first  of  the  name  in  the  colony  of  whom  we  have 
record,  entered  upon  a  grant  of  five  hundred  acres  in 
Northampton  County  in  the  year  1744.  After  that 
date  the  records  of  the  colony  mention  others  whose 
names   indicate   a   close   family   connection.     Among 


4  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

them,  besides  William,  were  Francis,  Robert,  John, 
and  Jesse,  all  of  whose  names  reappear  among  the 
brothers  of  Charles  B.  Aycock.  Two  of  these  Ay  cocks, 
Robert  and  John,  were  soldiers  of  the  Revolution. 

Governor  Aycock's  great  grandfather  was  probably 
Jesse  Aycock,  whose  name  appears  in  the  Federal 
Census  of  1790  as  the  head  of  a  family  in  Wayne 
County,  which,  in  the  language  of  the  Census,  con- 
sisted of  two  "free  white  males  of  sixteen  years  and 
upward,"  four  "free  white  males  under  sixteen  years," 
and  two  "free  white  females"  —  probably  himself 
and  wife,  five  sons  and  one  daughter.  He  owned 
three  slaves.  The  grandfather  of  Governor  Aycock, 
also  named  Jesse,  married  first  a  Miss  Wilkinson, 
and  by  her  became  the  father  of  six  sons,  one  of  whom 
was  Benjamin,  the  Governor's  father. 

The  line  of  Governor  Aycock's  maternal  ancestors, 
beyond  the  third  generation,  is  equally  obscure.  His 
great  grandfather  was  probably  the  Robert  Hooks 
whom  the  Census  records  as  head  of  a  family  in  Wayne 
County  in  1790,  consisting  of  one  "free  white  male" 
over  sixteen,  three  "free  white  males  under  sixteen," 
and  one  "free  white  female."  That  he  was  a  man  of 
considerable  wealth,  as  wealth  was  then  counted  in 
that  community,  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  he  was 
the  master  of  fourteen  slaves.  In  all  Wayne  County 
only  twenty-seven  persons  owned  a  larger  number. 
His  son,  Robert  Hooks,  married  a  Miss  Bishop,  by 
whom  he  had  four  sons  and  three  daughters.  The 
eldest  of  the  daughters,  Serena,  married  Benjamin 
Aycock,  and  became  the  mother  of  Charles  Brantley 
Aycock. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  5 

Benjamin  Aycock,  a  man  of  great  reserve  and 
dignity,  was  a  fine  product  of  that  sturdy,  law-abiding, 
industrious  rural  population  which  has  always  formed 
the  backbone  of  North  Carolina,  and  has  given  to  the 
State  her  most  marked  characteristics.  He  loved  the 
simplicity  and  independence  of  rural  life,  and  inculcated 
in  the  members  of  his  family  habits  of  economy,  thrift 
and  industry.  His  neighbors  esteemed  him  for  his 
honesty,  his  fine  common  sense  and  practical  wisdom, 
and  for  his  great  strength  of  character.  He  served 
the  people  of  Wayne  County  for  eight  years  as  Clerk 
of  the  Superior  Court,  and  in  1864  and  1865  repre- 
sented them  in  the  State  Senate. 

His  service  in  the  State  Senate  was  not  without 
significance  and  interest.  There  was  nothing  of  the 
politician  about  him.  He  performed  his  duties  in  the 
same  straightforward,  uncalculating  manner,  and 
with  the  same  unyielding  courage  of  conviction  —  as 
a  single  instance  will  illustrate  —  which  so  strongly 
characterized  the  public  career  of  his  more  distinguished 
son.  In  1864  the  relations  existing  between  the  State 
Government  and  the  Confederate  Government  bor- 
dered upon  open  hostility.  The  passage  of  the  Con- 
script Act  by  the  Confederate  Congress  had  aroused 
intense  opposition  in  North  Carolina.  Governor 
Vance,  though  determined  to  enforce  the  law,  was 
known  to  believe  it  unconstitutional.  A  majority 
in  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature  not  only  believed  it 
unconstitutional,  but  were  resolved  if  possible  to  pre- 
vent its  enforcement.  In  the  Senate  the  anti- 
administration  forces  were  ably  led,  bent  upon  em- 
barrassing the  Confederate  Government  and  intolerant 


6  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

of  opposition.  Moreover,  they  had  the  moral  support 
of  popular  sentiment.  Timid  men  bent  before  the 
current  of  public  sentiment,  and  politicians  trimmed 
their  sails  to  catch  the  prevailing  winds.  Senator 
Aycock  was  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  He  did 
not  sympathize  with  these  views,  and  came  forward 
as  one  of  the  most  active  leaders  in  opposition  to  them. 
As  chairman  of  a  committee  to  report  on  that  part  of 
the  Governor's  message,  which  related  to  the  Con- 
script Act,  he  declared  that  while  he  lamented  the 
necessity  for  it,  he  did  "not  consider  the  present  to 
be  the  proper  time  or  place  to  decide  upon  the  con- 
stitutionality of  that  measure.  .  .  .  Shall  the 
noble-hearted  men,"  referring  to  those  in  the  army,  he 
exclaimed,  "be  suffered  to  call  and  die  in  vain,  while 
a  man  is  left  at  home  who  can  or  ought  to  render  aid?  " 
In  spite  of  intense  opposition,  and  in  the  face  of  popular 
sentiment,  on  every  vote  taken  in  the  Senate  his  "  name 
always  led  the  list  of  those  who  sought  to  uphold  the 
Confederate  administration,  and  although  that  party 
was  in  the  minority  in  the  Senate  as  well  as  in  the 
House,  he  never  flinched  in  the  performance  of  his 
full  duty  to  the  soldiers  in  the  field  and  to  those  who 
were  making  such  Herculean  efforts  to  achieve  South- 
ern Independence." 

Benjamin  Aycock  had  no  fondness  for  politics,  but, 
like  his  son,  he  considered  it  the  duty  of  every  good 
citizen  to  participate  in  public  affairs  to  the  end  that 
good  government  might  be  established  and  main- 
tained; and  he  neither  sought,  nor,  when  called  upon 
by  his  neighbors,  refused  to  accept  public  office.  But 
it  was  as  a  private  citizen  that  he  served  his  country 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  7 

best.  A  law-abiding  citizen,  a  good  farmer,  a  God- 
fearing Christian,  he  impressed  himself  strongly  on 
his  family  and  his  community.  He  was,  as  one  of  his 
former  pastors  tells  us,  "an  excellent  member  and 
deacon  of  the  Primitive  Baptist  Church;  and  while 
opening  a  conference  at  Aycock's  Church  in  Wilson 
County  (1875),  he  dropped  dead  of  heart  disease,  thus 
falling  at  his  post  of  duty  as  did  his  distinguished  son." 
Serena  Hooks,  mother  of  Charles  Brantley  Aycock, 
was  a  remarkable  woman.  She  possessed  intellectual 
gifts  that,  in  a  large  degree,  made  up  for  her  lack  of 
early  education.  During  the  years  in  which  her  hus- 
band's public  duties  took  him  away  from  home,  the 
entire  management  of  the  farm  and  the  training  of  her 
sons,  then  at  their  most  impressionable  age,  fell  upon 
her  shoulders.  She  met  her  responsibilities  with 
great  success.  Firm  and  inflexible  in  her  discipline, 
she  was  always  kind  and  affectionate,  never  in  a  hurry 
and  never  known  to  lose  her  temper.  In  the  evenings, 
during  the  school  term,  it  was  her  custom  to  gather  her 
children  around  her  for  an  hour  or  two  of  study,  after 
which  she  required  them  to  recite  their  lessons  to  her; 
and  although  without  any  education  herself,  she  had 
no  trouble  in  telling  by  the  expressions  of  their  faces 
whether  or  not  they  knew  their  lessons.  Charles 
Aycock  once  saw  his  mother  make  her  mark  when 
signing  a  deed;  and  this  incident,  as  he  often  declared 
to  his  intimate  friends,  impressed  him  so  forcibly  with 
the  failure  of  the  State  to  do  its  duty  in  establishing 
and  maintaining  a  public  school  system,  that  he  re- 
solved to  devote  whatever  talents  he  might  possess 
to  procuring  for  every  child  born  in  North  Carolina 


8  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

an  open  schoolhouse,  and  an  opportunity  for  obtaining 
a  public  school  education.  "His  mother,"  says  one 
who  knew  her  well,  "inherited  from  her  mother  the 
strain  of  Quaker  blood  which  gave  her  the  grave, 
benignant  manner,  brevity  of  speech,  gentleness  of 
touch,  and  tenderness  of  affection"  which  she  trans- 
mitted in  so  marked  a  degree  to  her  youngest  son. 
She  was  noted,  too,  for  her  "fidelity  to  duty,  and  vigor 
of  mind  and  body  which  carried  her  through  a  long 
life  of  toil  and  sacrifice,  patiently  and  faithfully  borne, 
and  tenderly  and  lovingly  requited,  until  having 
accomplished  the  full  measure  of  her  days  [18921,  she 
went  peacefully  to  her  rest."  Governor  Ay  cock  bore 
a  strong  resemblance  to  his  mother  both  in  character 
and  in  features;  and  to  her  influence  and  training  he 
attributed  whatever  of  success  he  achieved  in  life. 

Benjamin  and  Serena  Ay  cock  had  ten  children,  of 
whom  Charles  Brantley  was  the  youngest.  The  place 
of  his  birth  was  in  Nahunta  Township,  Wayne  County, 
North  Carolina.  The  home  in  which  he  was  reared 
"was  a  quiet  one  in  which  affection,  order,  industry, 
and  frugality  were  linked  with  clear  thinking,  direct- 
ness of  speech,  devotion  to  duty,  and  deep  religious 
conviction."  A  pen  picture  of  the  community  is 
drawn  with  such  skill  and  charm  by  Judge  Frank  A, 
Daniels  that  we  reprint  it  in  full. 

"The  community  was  wholly  agricultural.  The 
owners  or  their  fathers  or  grandfathers  had  cleared 
the  lands  and  brought  them  into  a  fine  state  of  culti- 
vation. The  crops  are  usually  good  because  cultivated 
intelligently    and    industriously.     The    largest  land- 


BENJAMIN  AYCOCK 

Father  of  Charles  Brantley  Ay  cock. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  9 

owner  was  capable  of  doing  as  much  work  as  his  best 
hired  laborer  and  took  pride  in  doing  it.  The  farm 
hand  who  could  keep  place  with  his  employer  in  cotton 
chopping  time  was  the  recipient  of  warm  congratula- 
tions. Work  was  looked  upon  as  the  first  duty  of 
man,  and  woe  betide  the  luckless  farmer  who,  forgetting 
the  primal  law  of  life,  permitted  his  cotton  to  become 
grassy.  If  he  escaped  having  his  crop  auctioned  off 
to  the  highest  bidder  at  the  depot  some  Saturday 
evening,  in  the  presence  of  his  neighbors,  it  was  only 
because  he  bound  himself  in  the  most  solemn  terms 
that  the  next  Saturday  should  find  it  clean. 

"Prosperity  smiled  upon  the  community  and  as 
wealth  accumulated,  more  land  was  bought  and  larger 
crops  were  raised.  The  only  investment  regarded  as 
wise  was  the  purchase  or  improvements  of  land. 

"The  population  was  homogeneous.  The  original 
settlers  were  of  English  stock.  The  scanty  immi- 
gration came  from  the  same  source,  and  was  confined 
to  the  occasional  arrival  of  an  individual  or  family 
from  a  neighboring  county.  They  were  a  strong  and 
vigorous  people,  independent,  industrious  and  re- 
ligious. They  had  not  much  of  the  culture  derived 
from  books,  but  they  had  a  culture  which  cannot 
always  be  obtained  from  books.  They  were  well 
informed  on  political  questions,  kept  in  touch  with  the 
great  movements  of  the  day,  advocated  and  practised, 
as  opportunity  permitted,  the  education  of  their  chil- 
dren, exhibited  a  patriotic  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
the  country,  and  when  soldiers  were  needed  gave  their 
best  and  bravest  to  die  for  their  principles. 

"They    were    an    undemonstrative    people.     Sim- 


10  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

plicity  of  life  characterized  them.  'Deeds,  not  words,' 
might  have  been  written  as  their  motto.  They  strove 
to  be  accurate  and  literal  in  their  statements.  Exag- 
geration or  hyperbole  was  foreign  to  them.  A  flood 
was  to  them  a  tolerably  heavy  rain;  an  enormous  crop, 
a  fair  yield;  a  great  speech,  a  good  talk.  If  one  was 
ill,  he  was  'not  very  well,'  and  if  he  was  well,  he  fre- 
quently described  himself  as  'just  up'  or  'so  as  to  be 
about.' 

"They  had  a  courage  of  a  high  order,  but  never 
vaunted  it.  It  was  of  the  quiet  sort,  that  makes  itself 
felt  when  occasion  demands.  A  typical  Nahunta  man, 
whose  company  was  charging  the  enemy  in  one  of  the 
battles  of  the  War  Between  the  States,  engrossed  in 
the  business  in  hand,  went  his  steady  gait  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  foe,  under  a  storm  of  shot,  when,  not 
hearing  his  comrades,  he  turned  and  looked  to  see 
what  had  become  of  them,  and  found  they  had  stopped 
a  hundred  yards  or  more  behind  him.  He  yelled  to 
them  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  'Fellows,  why  don't  you 
come  on?'  and  stood  his  ground  until  they  came.  He 
was  never  able  to  see  the  point  of  the  compliment  his 
Captain  paid  Mm  in  camp  that  night;  his  only  feeling 
seemed  to  be  one  of  good-humored  contempt  for  the 
'fellows'  who  wouldn't  'come  on.' 

"The  hospitality  of  the  community  was  proverbial. 
It  was  kind  and  unostentatious,  but  open-handed. 
It  was  impossible  to  escape  the  kindly,  cordial  im- 
portunity extended  on  all  sides,  and  it  was  no  infrequent 
thing  for  twenty-five  guests  to  sit  down  to  dinner  in 
one  of  the  modest  homes  of  that  community. 

"It  was  expected,  of  course,  that  every  man  should 


OF  CHAKLES  B.  AYCOCK  11 

take  care  of  himself  and  his  family,  and  in  the  rare 
instances  in  which  this  expectation  was  disappointed, 
the  thriftless  or  lazy  wight  soon  had  it  borne  in  upon 
him  in  some  indefinable  way,  that  his  further  stay 
was  not  desirable,  and  ere  long  took  his  departure. 
The  tricky  and  dishonest  felt  the  frown  of  public 
condemnation,  and  could  not  thrive  in  that  pure 
atmosphere. 

"The  hand  of  charity  was  always  extended  to  the 
unfortunate,  but  only  to  the  deserving.  Indiscriminate 
giving  was  felt  to  be  a  wrong  to  the  recipient  as  well 
as  to  the  community. 

"When  sickness  or  misfortune  came  the  spirit  of 
mutual  helpfulness  was  a  guaranty  that  no  harm 
should  come  to  the  afflicted  one,  and  the  neighbors 
volunteered  to  do  the  plowing,  chop  the  cotton,  or 
gather  the  crop  as  required. 

"There  was  in  all  classes  a  deep-seated  regard  for 
law  and  order  and  a  strong  attachment  to  democratic 
government.  No  more  democratic  community,  both 
in  principle  and  in  practice,  could  be  found  among 
civilized  men,  and  coupled  with  this  was  the  spirit 
of  instant  and  determined  opposition  to  misrule  or 
oppression,  which  is  always  found  where  democratic 
principles  dominate. 

"The  virtues  of  this  community  are  traceable  in 
great  part  to  the  strong  hold  of  religion  upon  the  peo- 
ple. The  Primitive  Baptist  faith,  strongly  Calvinistic, 
had  many  adherents,  and  was  the  controlling  factor. 
Under  its  influence  men  and  women,  strong  in  faith  and 
character,  grew  up,  led  public  sentiment,  and  gave 
tone  to  moral  and  social  life." 


12  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Multiplied  by  itself  a  sufficient  number  of  times, 
Nahunta  becomes  North  Carolina;  and  in  this  fact 
we  find  the  secret  of  the  hold  that  Charles  B.  Ay  cock 
was  able  to  secure  and  retain  upon  the  people  of  the 
State.  The  spirit  of  Nahunta  was  the  spirit  of  North 
Carolina,  and  because  he  understood  the  one,  he 
understood  the  other.  That  spirit  thoroughly  per- 
meated the  nature  of  young  Aycock,  and  being  a 
"typical  Nahunta  boy,"  he  became  by  a  natural 
process  of  development  a  typical  North  Carolina  man. 
The  simplicity  of  character,  the  independence  of 
thought,  the  homely  virtues  of  the  people  among  whom 
he  was  born  and  reared,  reached  their  fullest  develop- 
ment in  him.  No  man  understood  more  clearly  than 
himself  the  influence  which  his  early  environment  had 
in  moulding  his  character,  in  forming  his  habits  of 
thought,  in  shaping  his  attitude  generally  toward 
life. 

The  feeling  of  local  attachment  was  strongly 
developed  in  him.  While  Governor  of  the  State  he 
declared  to  a  large  audience  in  the  State  of  Maine: 
"I  love  my  home  town  better  than  any  other  town  in 
Wayne  County;  I  love  Wayne  County  better  than 
any  other  county  in  North  Carolina,  North  Carolina 
better  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union,  the  United 
States  better  than  any  other  country  in  the  world, 
and,"  he  added  half  jestingly,  half  seriously,  "I  love 
this  world  better  than  the  next."  The  same  thought 
found  fuller  expression  shortly  before  his  death,  in 
his  address  on  Robert  E.  Lee.  "The  love  of  home,  of 
family,  of  neighborhood,  of  county,  of  State,  pre- 
dominated in  him.     The  elemental  foundation  of  all 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  13 

free  government  is  found  in  this  vital  fact.  There 
can  never  be  a  free  people  save  those  who  love  and 
serve  those  closest  to  them  first,  and  those  farthest 
away  afterward.  The  Gospel  must  be  preached  to 
all  the  world,  but  its  preaching  must  begin  at  Jerusalem. 
It  never  could  have  begun  anywhere  else,  and  if  it  had, 
it  never  would  have  gone  anywhere  else."  There  is 
nothing  new  or  original  in  this  sentiment:  thousands 
of  others  before  him  had  said  the  same  thing.  But 
Charles  B.  Aycock  believed  it,  and  the  people  of  North 
Carolina  knew  that  it  was  the  mainspring  of  his  life. 
During  the  campaign  of  1900,  after  he  had  spoken  to  an 
immense  gathering  at  Goldsboro,  Mr.  Josephus 
Daniels  wrote  to  his  paper,  The  News  and  Observer: 

"These  Wayne  County  people  believe  so  thoroughly 
in  Aycock  that  they  are  not  astonished  at  any  feat 
he  has  accomplished.  I  told  one  to-day  that  in  Ca- 
tawba County  he  made  the  greatest  speech  of  his  life 
to  5,000  people.  What  do  you  think  his  reply  was? 
T  reckon  Charles  made  a  right  good  speech  in  Catawba, 
but  I  just  know  it  couldn't  hold  a  light  to  that  speech 
he  made  in  Great  Swamp  [a  township  in  Wayne 
County]  in  1896.'  Speaking  to  an  honest  old-time 
Democrat,  I  said,  'Aycock  made  a  powerful  speech  in 
Wake  County  yesterday,'  T  reckon  so,'  he  replied, 
'but  he  never  can  speak  half  as  well  away  from  home 
as  he  can  at  Nahunta  or  Pikeville.  There  he  beats 
all  creation." 

And  the  "old-time  Democrat"  was  right.  It  was 
the  Nahunta  boy's  soul  burning  with  desire  to  serve 


14  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Nahunta  that  gave  him  his  first  inspiration:  and  as 
time  and  opportunity  broadened  his  field  of  vision  and 
of  service  all  of  North  Carolina  became  to  him  as  was 
Nahunta. 

Born  a  little  more  than  a  year  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War,  Charles  Aycock  was  nearly  six  years 
old  at  its  close;  and  he  grew  to  manhood  during  the 
period  of  Reconstruction.  He  was,  therefore,  of  an 
age  to  receive  vivid  impressions  of  the  events  of  both 
periods,  yet  not  old  enough  to  imbibe  the  bitterness 
to  which  they  gave  birth.  He  made  frequent  and 
effective  use  of  his  impressions  of  the  conditions  under 
which  he  passed  his  boyhood  days  in  his  campaign 
speeches,  and  before  juries  which,  taken  altogether, 
reveal  the  vividness  of  his  recollections  of  those  days. 
He  remembered,  he  said,  "the  closing  years  of  that 
great  internecine  strife  which  swept  over  my  [his] 
country  like  a  besom  of  destruction";  and  he  recalled 
how  his  own  elder  brothers,  and  other  Confederate 
soldiers,  returned  from  the  army  "weary,  worn  and 
sorrowful,  to  find  their  farms  gone  to  ruin,  their  fences 
down,  their  ditches  filled,  their  stock  slaughtered,  in 
too  many  instances  their  houses  burned."  "There 
was  neither  food  nor  raiment,  and  those  who  had  in 
the  past  labored  for  them  were  free,  and  were  enjoying 
their  new  freedom  with  a  license  which  imperiled  life 
and  property,  and  their  fields  were  gone  to  waste. 
They  were  without  capital  and  without  material  with 
which  to  begin  the  struggle  of  life.  They  had  neither 
teams  nor  agricultural  implements  with  which  to 
begin  the  work."  "Mourning  was  everywhere  in  the 
land.    Universal  poverty,  actual  scarcity,  real  suffer- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  15 

ing,  genuine  want  were  in  the  State."  But  worst  of 
all  was  the  hatred  which  had  been  engendered,  not 
only  between  North  and  South,  but  even  among 
neighbors  and  families  of  the  same  community.  He 
remembered  "how  the  people  hated  Abe  Lincoln,  and 
how  the  Yankee  folk  hated  Jeff  Davis.  Their  pic- 
tures appeared  in  all  the  papers,  they  were  caricatured 
and  cartooned  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other.  Abe  Lincoln's  face  lent  itself  to  the  facile  pen 
of  the  cartoonist  to  make  it  look  hideous,  while  Davis's 
face  was  easy  to  be  made  monstrous.  And  they 
paraded  them  over  the  country,  to  the  gratification 
of  the  respective  partisans  of  either  side."  It  was  a 
time  "when  reason  had  lost  its  base,  when  men  almost 
forgot  God,  when  they  became  familiar  with  death 
and  blood  and  slaughter,  and  lay  down  with  hatred 
in  their  souls." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  the  political  con- 
ditions that  prevailed  in  North  Carolina  during  the 
era  of  Reconstruction:  that  task  belongs  to  the  general 
historian.  Yet  after  I860  there  never  was  a  moment 
of  his  life  when  Aycock  was  not  under  the  direct  in- 
fluence of  those  conditions,  for  they  cut  deep  the 
channels  along  which  flowed  the  current  of  his  life, 
and  which  determined  the  course  of  his  public  career. 
In  1868,  the  period  of  Congressional  Reconstruction 
began,  and  Wayne  County,  together  with  the  other 
counties  of  the  East,  passed  into  the  control  of  the 
Carpet-baggers  and  their  negro  allies.  Their  brief 
rule  was  characterized  by  inefficiency,  extravagance, 
violence,  and  unblushing  corruption.  On  the  part 
of  the  native  whites,  political  contests  assumed  all  the 


16  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

seriousness  of  a  desperate  struggle  for  the  preservation 
of  life,  liberty,  and  property. 

Too  young  to  take  any  part  in  this  struggle,  Charles 
Aycock  was  old  enough  to  be  profoundly  impressed, 
without  clearly  understanding  it  all,  by  what  went 
on  around  him.  His  father's  house  became  a  favorite 
rendezvous  for  the  Nahunta  farmers,  who,  of  a  summer's 
evening,  gathered  on  his  broad  piazza  and  discussed 
politics  far  into  the  night.  Frequently  their  discus- 
sions were  carried  on  in  the  hearing  of  an  unknown 
auditor;  for  though  Charles  was  always  early  ordered 
off  to  bed,  he  sometimes  slipped  out  of  the  back 
window  in  his  night  clothes,  crept  silently  around  the 
house,  and  hiding  under  the  front  porch  steps,  lay 
there  as  quiet  as  a  mouse,  eagerly  listening  to  the 
words  of  his  elders. 

It  was  at  this  period,  too,  that  the  lad  heard  his 
first  political  discussion  when  John  W.  Dunham,  a 
Democrat,  met  James  Wiggins,  a  Republican,  in  joint 
debate  at  Nahunta.  Dunham  was  a  member  of  the 
Wilson  bar,  an  educated  man,  with  a  reputation  as  an 
experienced  and  vigorous  campaigner.  His  opponent, 
familiarly  known  as  "Jimmie"  Wiggins,  was  an 
illiterate  man,  without  respect  for  the  King's  English, 
awkward  in  his  manner,  and  grotesque  in  his  delivery. 
Charles  Aycock,  boylike,  secured  a  seat  immediately 
under  the  speakers'  stand.  Dunham  opened  the 
debate  in  his  usual  good  style,  but  his  speech  made  no 
impression  on  young  Aycock.  But  the  moment 
Wiggins  began  to  speak,  the  boy  riveted  his  eyes  upon 
him,  followed  every  gesture,  and  caught  every  word. 
He    missed    nothing.     No    awkward    movement,    no 


SERENA  HOOKS  AYCOCK 

Mother  of  Charles  Brantley  Ay  cock. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  17 

slang  expression,  no  intonation  of  voice,  no  facial 
contortion,  escaped  his  attention,  and  upon  his  return 
home  he  astonished  his  family  by  repeating  the  speech 
almost  verbatim.  For  many  a  day  after  that  memor- 
able occasion  it  was  a  favorite  amusement  in  that 
community  to  place  young  Aycock  on  a  goods-box  in 
the  midst  of  an  appreciative  audience,  who  cheered 
and  roared  heartily  as  he  repeated  the  words  and 
mimicked  the  tones  and  gestures  of  "  Jimmie"  Wiggins. 

Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  had  destroyed  the 
public  school  system  which  Calvin  H.  Wiley  had  built 
up  in  North  Carolina,  and  young  Aycock  was  forced 
to  pursue  his  education  in  a  haphazard  sort  of  way  at 
such  private  schools  as  chanced  to  be  conducted  within 
his  reach.  The  first  of  these  schools  was  at  Nahunta, 
where  the  people  of  the  community,  by  uniting  their 
small  means,  had  employed  a  teacher.  Here  Charles 
Aycock,  under  the  chaperonage  of  his  six  older  brothers, 
first  entered  school.  "It  was  an  inspiring  spectacle," 
says  one  who  frequently  witnessed  it,  "to  see  these 
seven  fine  fellows  on  their  way  from  the  farm  to  the 
school.  Charles  was  then  about  eight  years  of  age, 
and  was  the  pet  of  the  family.  It  was  no  unusual  sight 
to  see  Frank,  the  oldest,  trotting  down  the  dusty  road 
with  Charles,  the  youngest,  on  his  big  broad  shoulders 
—  'Big  Sandy'  and  'Little  Sandy,'  as  Charles  called 
his  brother  and  himself.  They  carried  their  dinner 
in  one  tin  bucket,  and  as  all  were  hale  and  hearty 
young  men  and  boys,  it  can  easily  be  imagined  that 
it  required  an  ample  one  to  supply  their  demands." 

From  Nahunta  to  Wilson,  thence  to  Kinston,  the 
ambitious  lad  pursued  his   search  for  an  education. 


18  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

At  Wilson  he  entered  the  Wilson  Collegiate  Institute, 
then  conducted  by  Elder  Sylvester  Hassell,  who  de- 
clares that  in  young  Aycock  he  had  "a  bright  and 
exemplary  pupil."  One  of  his  schoolmates  remembers 
that  the  "teachers  supposed  Charles  Aycock  had  not 
had  the  best  preparation  and  accordingly  put  him  in 
classes  with  younger  boys  than  himself;  but  he  soon 
showed  that  they  had  made  a  mistake,  and  they  pro- 
moted him  to  classes  of  boys  of  his  own  age  and  older, 
where  he  maintained  first  place  in  many  studies.  He 
was  particularly  strong  in  Latin  and  grammar 
and  English.  There  was  no  boy  in  the  school  who 
could  touch  him  in  these  three  studies.  He  could 
translate  English  into  Latin  with  a  facility  that 
astounded  the  other  boys  in  the  school,  and  he  seemed 
not  only  to  know  Latin  grammar  by  heart  but  was  able 
to  apply  it  with  accuracy  and  quickness;  the  verbs 
seemed  to  be  at  his  tongue's  end.  He  was  not  then, 
or  at  the  University,  strong  in  mathematics." 

Declamation  and  debating,  to  which  every  Friday 
afternoon  was  devoted,  formed  an  important  feature 
in  Mr.  Hassell's  scheme  of  education,  and  in  these 
young  Aycock  excelled.  "His  voice,"  we  are  told  by 
one  of  his  youthful  rivals,  "was  not  melodious,  and  he 
was  rather  awkward  in  his  movements,  but  when  he 
rose  to  speak,  every  person  within  reach  of  his  voice 
listened  until  his  conclusion."  His  earnestness,  sin- 
cerity, and  directness  in  debate  compelled  attention. 
His  schoolmates  recall  that  at  the  declamations  on 
Friday  afternoons,  when  declaiming  some  of  the  old 
masterpieces  with  which  all  the  [schoolboys  were 
familiar,  he  seemed  to  make  them  his  own,  and  to  be 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  19 

able  to  get  hold  of  his  audience  as  well  as  if  he  were 
making  a  speech  that  he  had  composed,  suitable  for 
the  occasion.  The  teachers  and  children  of  other 
schoolrooms  would  throng  the  hall  to  hear  him.  It 
was  in  the  moot  court  of  the  debating  society,  asso- 
ciated with  his  future  law  partner,  Hon.  Frank  A. 
Daniels,  now  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  against 
Mr.  Rodolph  Duffy,  afterward  solicitor  of  the  Sixth 
Judicial  District,  that  the  future  advocate  defended 
and  won  his  first  murder  case. 

"I  recall,"  says  Mr.  Josephus  Daniels,  "that  when 
Aycock  was  at  school  in  Wilson  he  did  not  board  in 
the  school  building,  but  two  miles  in  the  country,  and 
walked  to  school  every  day,  bringing  his  dinner  with 
him  and  often  in  the  noon  hour,  after  eating,  he  de- 
voted himself  to  study."  But  let  it  not  be  supposed 
that  "studying  after  eating"  occupied  his  undivided 
attention  during  the  noon  hour.  Young  Aycock  was 
a  strong,  healthy  lad,  of  sociable  instincts,  fond  of 
sports,  and  at  times  he  certainly  did,  by  an  exercise 
of  strong  will  power,  tear  himself  away  from  his  books 
and  join  the  other  fellows  in  their  games.  Besides, 
among  his  fellow-pupils  there  were  two  sisters,  Misses 
Varina  and  Cora  Woodard,  who  certainly  taught  him 
some  lessons  which  he  did  not  learn  from  books,  either 
before  or  after  eating. 

At  Kinston,  young  Aycock  had  the  good  fortune  to 
come  under  the  influence  of  a  masterful  teacher,  Rev. 
Joseph  H.  Foy,  who  quickly  recognized  his  pupil's 
superior  abilities,  and  took  great  pride  in  directing 
their  development.  He  encouraged  the  boy  in  his 
ambition,  fired  his  zeal  for  learning,  and  awoke  in  him 


20  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK 

a  spirit  of  self-confidence.  Governor  Aycock  never 
forgot,  nor  failed  to  acknowledge,  the  interest  which 
this  instructor  took  in  him.  Under  Mr.  Foy  his 
preparation  for  college  was  completed.  The  family 
all  recognized  that  he  was  no  ordinary  boy,  and  be- 
lieving that  he  possessed  talents  which,  with  proper 
training,  would  raise  him  to  a  position  of  note  in  the 
State,  determined  that  every  sacrifice  should  be  made 
to  send  him  to  the  State  University  and  to  educate 
him  for  the  bar. 


CHAPTER  II 

FROM  FARM  BOY  TO  UNIVERSITY  LEADER 

YOUNG  AYCOCK  entered  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  in  the  fall  of  1877.  His 
appearance  made  a  distinct  impression  upon 
his  fellow-students,  and  many  of  them  "recall  vividly" 
the  strong,  sturdy-looking  country  boy,  upon  his  first 
touch  with  a  world  somewhat  larger  than  his  own 
neighborhood.  Says  one  of  them,  Hon.  Francis  D. 
Winston:  "I  recall  vividly  my  first  meeting  with 
Charles  B.  Ay  cock.  He  was  sitting  in  a  hack  in  front 
of  Watson's  Hotel  on  his  arrival  in  Chapel  Hill  to 
enter  the  State  University.  A  crowd  of  Sophomores 
was  present  to  greet  the  newcomers  with  yells  and 
cheers  and  other  evidences  of  fraternal  solicitude  and 
scholarly  welcome.  Aycock  was  yet  a  boy  in  appear- 
ance and  bore  about  him  the  simplicity  and  natural- 
ness of  one  who  has  just  left  the  plow  handles  on  his 
father's  farm.  He  looked  as  modest  as  a  girl,  but 
unaffected  and  self-reliant.  He  stepped  out  of  the 
hack  with  as  much  composure  and  as  little  self- 
consciousness  as  if  he  were  alighting  from  a  load  of 
wood  at  his  own  home.  The  boys  yelled  and  cheered. 
I  stepped  forward,  grasped  his  hand,  looked  into  the 
clear,  honest  blue  eyes  of  as  true  a  man  as  ever  lived,  and 
felt  for  him  the  thrill  of  friendship  that  is  akin  to  love." 

21 


22  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Charles  Aycock  entered  the  University  at  a  tran- 
sition period  in  its  life,  and  in  the  life  of  the  State. 
The  old  University  had  passed  into  history  together 
with  the  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction;  the  new 
University  had  its  face  turned  toward  the  future. 

"There  was  no  better  place,  I  think,"  says  Dr. 
Edwin  A.  Alderman,  "for  the  making  of  leaders  in  the 
world,  than  Chapel  Hill  in  the  late  seventies.  The 
note  of  life  was  simple,  rugged,  almost  primitive.  Our 
young  hearts,  aflame  with  the  impulses  of  youth,  were 
quietly  conscious  of  the  vicissitudes  and  sufferings 
through  which  our  fathers  had  just  passed.  'The 
Conquered  Banner'  and  the  mournful  threnodies  of 
Father  Ryan  were  yielding  place  to  songs  of  hope.  A 
heroic  tradition  pervaded  the  place,  while  hope  and 
struggle,  rather  than  despair  or  repining,  shone  in 
the  purpose  of  the  resolute  men  who  were  rebuilding 
the  famous  old  school. 

"All  of  us  were  poor  boys.  Those  who  came  from  the 
towns  looked,  perhaps,  a  trifle  more  modish  to  the 
inexperienced  eye,  but  they  were  just  as  poor  as  their 
country  fellows,  and  had  come  out  of  just  such  simple 
homes  of  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice.  The  uncon- 
scious discipline  and  tutelage  of  defeat  and  fortitude 
and  self-restraint,  had  cradled  us  all.  We  had  all 
seen  in  the  faces  of  our  patient  mothers  and  grim 
fathers  something  that  we  knew,  if  we  could  not  ex- 
press, was  not  despair,  and  somehow,  life  seemed  very 
grand  and  duty  easy  and  opportunity  precious." 

New  problems  in  politics,  in  education,  in  scholar- 
ship, in  industry  were  beginning  to  press  themselves 
upon  the  attention  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  among 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  23 

Aycock's  fellow  students  were  not  a  few  of  those  who 
have  since  led  the  way  to  their  solution.  He  strove 
for  college  honors  against  such  men  as  Charles  Duncan 
Mclver,  Edwin  A.  Alderman,  James  Y.  Joyner, 
Robert  P.  Pell,  M.  C.  S.  Noble,  Henry  Horace 
Williams;  against  Francis  D.  Winston,  Robert  W. 
Winston,  Rufus  A.  Doughton,  Locke  Craig,  Frank 
A.  Daniels,  Charles  R.  Thomas,  James  S.  Manning, 
and  Robert  Strange.  It  was  no  slight  achievement 
for  the  raw  country  boy  fresh  from  his  Nahunta 
farm  even  to  hold  his  own  with  these  students:  to 
become,  as  Aycock  quickly  did,  an  acknowledged 
leader  among  them  marked  him  as  no  common 
youth. 

Aycock  entered  the  Sophomore  class.  It  was  his 
wish  to  complete  the  course  required  for  graduation 
in  two  years,  but  the  upper  classmen  protested,  and 
the  Faculty  refused  its  permission.  He  had  a  strong, 
vigorous  mind  and  a  tenacious  memory,  and  easily 
mastered  most  subjects.  His  general  record,  there- 
fore, was  good,  but  in  science  and  mathematics  his 
marks  fell  below  the  average.  His  term  standing  in 
mathematics  once  falling  below  the  grade  required  for 
graduation,  he  resolved  not  to  continue  his  course 
for  his  degree  but  to  pass  at  once  into  the  law  school. 
But  his  friends  sought  earnestly  to  dissuade  him  from 
this  course,  and  finally  induced  him  to  take  a  second 
examination,  which,  as  he  himself  used  to  say,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  passing  "by  main  strength  and  awkward- 
ness." But  in  Latin,  English,  Political  Economy, 
Logic,  and  Moral  Philosophy  he  took  high  rank,  be- 
coming particularly  distinguished  for  his  Latin  and 


24  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

English  composition.  His  talent  for  the  latter  found 
a  field  for  development  on  the  editorial  staff  of  the 
University  Magazine,  and  in  the  debates  and  essays 
which  formed  the  work  of  the  Philanthropic  Literary 
Society.  He  also  edited,  for  a  while,  the  Chapel  Hill 
Ledger,  a  local  news  weekly.  In  his  Senior  year  he 
was  awarded  the  William  Bingham  Essayist's  Medal; 
and  at  Commencement  of  his  graduation,  1880,  he 
won  the  Willie  P.  Mangum  Medal  for  oratory,  speak- 
ing on  "The  Philosophy  of  the  History  of  New  England 
Morals."  These  distinctions  meant,  of  course,  that 
he  was  the  best  writer  and  the  best  speaker  in  his 
class.  During  his  Senior  year,  in  addition  to  his 
regular  college  course,  he  read  law  under  Dr.  Kemp  P. 
Battle,  then  president  of  the  University.  In  spite  of 
his  strenuous  classroom  work,  Aycock  found  time  for 
a  wide  range  of  reading.  He  had  the  capacity  to 
master  books,  and  while  at  the  University  developed 
a  strong  love  of  literature  which  survived  the  shock 
of  legal  and  political  contests,  and  remained  until 
the  day  of  his  death,  one  of  his  chief  sources  of  enter- 
tainment and  inspiration. 

At  that  time  all  academic  students  were  required 
to  become  members  of  one  of  the  two  literary  societies 
—  the  Philanthropic  and  the  Dialectic  —  whose  his- 
tory is  almost  co-terminous  with  the  history  of  the 
University  itself,  and  in  which  not  a  few  of  America's 
most  eminent  statesmen  received  their  training  in 
debate  and  parliamentary  practice.  Aycock  became 
a  "Phi,"  and  his  fellow  members  still  tell  with  great 
glee,  how  on  the  very  night  of  his  initiation  he  signalized 
his  first  appearance  by  "cleaning  up"  every  debater 


AYCOCK  AS  A  YOUNG  MAN 

Ay  cock  is  supposed  to  have  been  twenty  years  old  at   the  time  this 
picture  was  taken  —  a  student  of  the  University. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  25 

on  the  floor.  One  of  them  relates  the  incident  as 
follows : 

"Robert  W.  Winston  was  one  of  the  debaters  for 
that  night.  After  the  regular  debaters  had  finished, 
Judge  Winston  called  upon  the  new  comer,  Charles 
B.  Aycock,  for  a  speech.  The  call  was  good  natured 
and  evidently  intended  to  embarrass  the  country  boy 
who  had  just  entered  the  University.  Aycock  arose 
and  began  speaking.  We  all  took  notice  at  once, 
and  the  boys  realized  that  they  were  in  the  presence 
of  the  most  brilliant  speaker  in  the  college.  He  cleaned 
up  every  fellow  who  had  gone  before,  and  created  great 
merriment  by  declaring  that  the  illogical  contentions 
of  the  debaters  on  the  other  side  reminded  him  of  the 
'fellow  who  was  looking  for  a  black  cat  in  a  dark  cellar, 
on  a  dark  night,  with  no  light,  when  the  cat  was  not 
there.'  " 

All  student  activities,  social,  political,  and  literary 
were  conducted  through  the  societies,  and  it  was  in 
them,  rather  than  in  the  classrooms  that  the  ambitious 
student  strove  for  leadership.  Those  who  led  the 
societies,  led  the  University.  The  work  of  the  society 
was  Aycock's  natural  element,  and  he  passed  quickly, 
almost  immediately  into  leadership.  He  loved  the 
stimulating  clash  of  debate,  the  thrill  and  excitement 
of  battle  —  to  the  college  student  quite  as  real  and 
quite  as  serious  as  were  the  mightier  conflicts  of  later 
days  to  the  party  leader.  In  college  politics,  as  in  the 
conflicts  of  state  and  national  affairs,  he  struck  and 
received  swift,  hard  blows,  but  it  is  the  testimony  of 
all  that  he  fought  a  clean,  manly  fight.  His  blows 
left  no  sting,  nor  did  he,  himself,  harbor  any  bitterness 


26  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

of  spirit.  "Once  I  saw  him,"  says  Professor  Williams, 
"in  a  royal  battle  for  an  honor  in  the  Phi  Society. 
He  detected  some  ugly  practice.  Instantly  he  with- 
drew from  the  contest.  Then  he  made  the  finest  ap- 
peal for  clean  methods  and  high  ideals  I  ever  heard." 

On  another  occasion  he  chanced  to  be  for  the  time 
in  opposition  to  an  intimate  friend,  his  junior  in  age, 
and  his  inferior  in  physical  strength.  Under  the  im- 
pulse of  a  youthful  resentment  at  something  Aycock 
had  said,  the  other  sprang  up,  exclaiming,  "The 
gentleman  from  Wayne  has  stated  what  is  false;  I 
repeat,  sir,  what  is  false."  For  a  moment  the  atmos- 
phere was  charged  with  electricity,  and  all  awaited 
with  apprehension  the  expected  outburst;  but  Aycock, 
with  complete  self-control  calmly  arose  and  asked  for 
permission  to  interrupt  the  speaker.  "I  shall  never 
forget  Aycock 's  words,"  declares  the  latter,  "as  he 
quietly  said:  'The  gentleman  has  used  language 
on  this  floor  which  he  well  knows  he  would  not  have 
used  but  for  his  size  and  the  relations  heretofore 
existing  between  us.'  I  was,  of  course,  overwhelmed 
with  mortification,  and  replied:  Tt  does  not  matter 
about  my  size,  but  it  does  make  a  very  great  deal  of 
difference  about  our  relations.  I  spoke  without 
thinking  or  realizing  what  I  was  saying.  I  retract  the 
language  and  ask  the  gentleman's  pardon,'  and  sat 
down  in  confusion.  I  had  hardly  taken  my  seat  be- 
fore Aycock  had  crossed  the  hall,  dropped  into  the 
seat  next  to  me,  and  putting  his  arms  around  my 
shoulders,  said:  'It's  all  right,  Jim.  Don't  let  this 
worry  you.  I  knew  you  didn't  mean  it,  and  it  shan't 
affect  our  friendship.' " 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  27 

No  incident  of  Aycock's  college  career  shows  the 
position  of  leadership  which  he  so  quickly  attained 
more  clearly  than  his  election  as  chief  marshal  in  his 
first  year.  The  chief  marshalship  was  the  most 
coveted  social  honor  of  student  life.  The  office 
alternated  from  year  to  year  between  the  two  societies. 
In  Aycock's  first  year  it  came  to  the  Phi  Society,  and 
early  in  January,  1878,  Frank  Wood,  of  Edenton,  was 
chosen,  but  a  few  days  before  Commencement  he 
resigned  in  order  to  go  to  the  Paris  Exposition.  Nat- 
urally the  sub-marshals  expected  that  one  of  their 
number  would  be  promoted  to  the  vacancy,  and  they 
were  keenly  disappointed  when  the  choice  of  the 
society  fell  upon  Neal  Archibald  McLean,  a  popular 
law-student.  The  sub-marshals  and  their  friends 
promptly  protested  to  the  Faculty  against  McLean's 
election  on  the  ground  that  being  a  law-student  he 
was  ineligible  for  academic  honors.  The  protest 
was  argued  at  great  length  and  with  much  warmth, 
and  the  Faculty,  after  deliberating  all  day,  decided 
against  McLean.  This  decision  resulted  in  a  contest 
long  remembered  by  those  who  participated  in  it,  one 
of  whom,  Prof.  M.  C.  S.  Noble,  gives  the  following 
account  of  it: 

"McLean  had  not  been  elected  through  any  bitter 
party  fight,  but  simply  because  he  was  a  popular  fellow, 
and  when  the  Faculty  decided  against  him  there  was 
much  indignation  that  the  will  of  the  society  had  been 
thwarted  and  that  McLean,  vice-president  of  the 
society,  had  been  declared  ineligible  for  a  Commence- 
ment honor.  At  once  McLean's  friends  determined 
not  to  permit  the  election  of  any  of  the  sub-marshals 


28  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

who  had  led  the  fight  against  him.  Accordingly,  a 
party  was  formed  determined  to  have  no  Faculty 
interference  with  the  prerogatives  of  the  society,  and 
all  over  the  campus,  groups  of  students  gathered  to 
indulge  in  earnest  and  heated  discussions.  A  caucus 
of  the  new  party's  managers  was  held,  and  Aycock, 
who  had  not  wanted  the  honor,  was  made  to  take  it 
because  he,  too,  like  McLean,  was  a  popular  fellow  and 
had  been  an  indefatigable  fighter  for  McLean  from  the 
moment  the  contest  started.  The  machine  of  the  new 
party  was  composed  of  those  who  were  in  the  caucus, 
and  the  faithful  on  the  outside  were  told  to  wait  for 
the  nominating  speech  to  learn  the  name  of  the  candi- 
date agreed  upon.  When  the  society  met  and  received 
the  report  of  the  Faculty,  McLean  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion, after  which  the  President  called  for  nominations. 
For  a  few  minutes  there  was  an  intense  stillness,  each 
side  waiting  for  the  other  to  move  first.  Then  a 
member  rose  and  nominated  one  of  the  sub-marshals. 
The  President  asked  if  there  were  other  nominations, 
and  'Neal  Arch'  McLean,  addressing  the  chair,  spoke 
plainly  his  opinion  of  the  Faculty's  action,  thanked 
his  friends  for  their  support  of  him,  and  then  with  a 
voice  full  of  emotion  said,  'There  is  one  here  who  can 
serve  you  better  than  I,  and  I,  therefore,  nominate 
Charles  B.  Aycock.'  The  opposition  was  dumfounded, 
the  vote  was  taken,  and  Aycock  was  elected.  A 
student  rushing  out  of  the  hall  downstairs  to  the 
campus  where  the  Di's  were  waiting  to  hear  the  news, 
yelled  'Aycock!'  which  the  crowd  received  with  tri- 
umphant shouts  and  cheers,  while  the  college  bell 
chimed  in  and  lent  its  voice  to  the  celebration." 


z 


z  £ 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  29 

"At  Commencement  in  June,  following  his  election," 
relates  Judge  Daniels,  "whether  by  the  procurement 
of  some  humorous  friend  or  some  jealous  rival,  or  by 
one  of  those  accidents  which  defy  explanation,  as  he 
led  the  academic  procession,  arrayed  in  all  the  glory 
of  Chief  Marshal,  the  band  struck  up  the  then  popular 
tune,  'See  the  Mighty  Host  Advancing,  Satan  lead- 
ing On,'  much  to  the  amusement  of  his  friends  and 
somewhat  to  his  own  discomfort." 

Thus  within  a  single  year  Aycock  had  become  the 
leader  of  the  largest  and  most  influential  group  of 
students  in  the  University.  His  leadership  had  come 
not  through  scholarship,  though  he  was  by  no  means 
deficient  in  scholarship,  but  through  the  larger  and 
richer  life  of  the  campus,  where  the  college  man's 
capacity  for  leadership  is  tested  and  developed. 
College-life  is  nothing  less  than  world-life  in  miniature, 
and  he  who  would  lead  the  one,  as  well  as  he  who 
would  lead  the  other,  must  understand  men  rather 
than  books.  Professor  Williams  describes  this  college 
life  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina  as  "the  long 
walk  after  supper  when  two  men  talk  together  of  their 
hopes,  their  principles,  their  visions,  their  deeper  selves. 
It  is  the  hour  of  communion  in  the  old  room  after 
midnight,  when  the  day's  work  is  done,  the  light  burns 
low,  and  soul  speaks  to  soul.  It  is  the  banter  and 
raillery  and  fun  of  the  crowd  on  the  steps  of  the  build- 
ing for  an  hour  after  supper.  It  is  the  struggle  on  the 
campus  for  leadership.  It  is  the  rigid  and  swift 
judgment  of  the  student  body.  It  is  the  impartial 
application  of  standards.  The  judgments  of  this 
campus  are  to  me  the  finest  in  the  world.     Hypocrisy 


30  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

does  not  long  live  here.  The  writ  of  value  is  honesty. 
In  this  sphere  Aycock  found  his  place.  He  saw  here 
the  food  upon  which  right  manhood  must  feed.  He 
opened  wide  his  mind  and  spirit.  He  loved  it  with  all 
the  depth  of  his  great  nature."  He  studied  it,  he 
conquered  it,  and  he  led  it  as  he  willed.  It  is  needless 
to  add  that  it  was  this  training  which  fitted  him  to  be 
the  leader  of  his  people  in  the  great  crises  of  1898  and 
1900. 

It  is  evident  that  Charles  Aycock  made  a  deep  and 
lasting  impression  on  his  fellow  students  and  on  the 
University.  We  should  leave  this  chapter  of  his  life 
incomplete  if  we  failed  to  point  out,  though  ever  so 
briefly,  the  impression  which  the  University  made  upon 
him.  The  University  of  North  Carolina  was  estab- 
lished to  train  men  for  the  service  of  the  State.  The 
true  "University  man"  understands  this,  and  accepts 
his  education  at  her  hands  knowing  that,  if  he  be  true 
to  her  teaching,  he  is  under  the  highest  sort  of  obligation 
to  use  the  increased  power  which  he  receives  through 
her  training  not  for  his  own  advancement,  but  for  the 
good  of  the  Commonwealth.  When  the  State  re- 
quires his  service,  he  knows  that  he  is  expected  to  give 
it  freely  and  cheerfully,  regardless  of  any  personal 
losses  and  sacrifices.  Such  has  always  been  her 
teaching;  and  such  has  always  been  the  spirit  of  her 
sons. 

No  man  understood  this  better  than  Charles  B. 
Aycock.  He  knew  that  out  of  the  old  University  of 
ante-bellum  days  had  come  such  men  as  Murphey  and 
Wiley  and  Battle,  and  many  others  who  had  heard  the 
call  of  the  State  and  had  never  failed  to  respond. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  31 

Standing  upon  the  day  of  his  graduation,  as  we  have 
already  said,  at  a  transition  period  in  the  life  of  the 
University  and  of  the  State,  he,  too,  heard  a  call  for  a 
new  and  distinct  service.  Mclver  heard  it,  and  Alder- 
man, and  Joyner,  and  Noble.  Each  responded  after 
his  own  fashion,  but  all  had  the  same  object  in  view. 
Shortly  before  his  graduation  Aycock  caused  to  be 
debated  in  the  Phi  Society  this  query,  "Ought  The 
Public  School  System  of  North  Carolina  to  be 
Abolished?"  while  the  same  evening  he  himself,  as 
Senior  orator,  discussed  in  an  elaborate  oration,  "North 
Carolina's  Deficiency  and  Our  Duty."  He  had  caught 
a  vision  of  an  old  Commonwealth  re-made  and  re- 
vivified through  universal  education,  and  he  went 
forth  from  the  University  pledged  to  give  to  that 
cause  the  best  services  of  his  life. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    FOUNDATIONS    ON    WHICH    AYCOCK    BUILT 
HIS    CHARACTER 

WE  SHALL  not  attempt  in  this  volume  to  fol- 
low an  exact  chronological  order.  The  most 
significant  thing  about  a  man  is  not  a  rec- 
ord of  dates  and  deeds,  but  the  silent  development  of 
his  character.  It  is  much  as  Carlyle  says  —  that  "the 
Event,  the  thing  which  can  be  spoken  of  and  recorded, " 
is  in  most  cases  a  disruption,  a  break,  while  the  real 
growth  has  gone  on  in  silence:  as  "the  oak  grows 
silently  in  the  forest  a  thousand  years "  with  no  "event " 
to  note  until  in  the  thousandth  year  it  falls. 

Before  proceeding  with  the  events  of  Aycock's  life, 
therefore,  let  us  pause  to  consider  the  foundations  on 
which  he  built  his  character.  That  these  foundations 
were  laid  before  he  completed  his  college  course  and 
before  he  began  his  career  at  the  bar,  we  are  assured; 
and  it  is  necessary  to  understand  them  in  order  to 
understand  the  man.  However,  in  attempting  this 
estimate  we  shall  have  to  select  significant  manifesta- 
tions of  his  character  from  many  periods  of  his  career. 

There  are  several  single  sentences  that  seem  to  give 
snapshots,  as  it  were,  of  Aycock.  We  have  already 
quoted  some  of  them:  Bishop  Kilgo's  saying:  "He  lived 
out  his  whole  life  under  the  despotism  of  duty, "  Archi- 

32 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  33 

bald  Johnson's:  "He  won  great  love  because  he  was  a 
great  lover,"  and  Elder  Gold's:  "He  had  the  simplicity 
of  sincerity,  and  the  sincerity  of  simplicity. " 

Yet  it  often  happens  that  in  some  moment  of  self- 
revelation  a  man  unconsciously  utters  the  best  charac- 
terization of  himself.  So  it  seems  to  us  that  Aycock, 
but  ten  days  before  the  end,  and  while  the  death-angel 
already  beckoned  him  from  a  task  he  was  never  to 
finish,  gave  perhaps  the  best  one-sentence  characteri- 
zation of  himself  when  he  read  his  friends  from  the 
unfinished  manuscript  of  the  speech  he  had  prepared 
for  delivery  on  April  12th:  "For  I  am  a  plain  and 
simple  man  who  loves  his  friends,  and  has  never  been 
hated  enough  by  any  man  to  make  him  hate  again  in 
return." 

Love  —  simplicity.  These  were  indeed  the  ruling 
principles  of  Aycock's  life.  It  is  hard  to  realize  that  a 
man  could  have  been  the  leader  in  the  mighty  cam- 
paigns of  1898  and  1900,  when  the  primal  passions  of 
race-feeling  were  stirred  to  white  heat,  and  could  also 
have  dared  all  uncharitableness  in  four  years  of  strenu- 
ous devotion  to  duty  as  Governor,  and  yet  not  have 
made  an  enemy.  But  so  it  was.  And  when  in  the 
sunshine  of  the  April  morning  a  sorrowing  State  wel- 
comed back  his  body  to  the  soil  he  loved,  there  were 
none  who  spoke  him  more  fair  in  death  than  those 
whom  he  had  met  as  rivals  in  fierce  debate.  Judge 
Jeter  C.  Pritchard  uttered  the  sentiment  of  men  of  all 
parties  when  he  wrote:  "He  was  incapable  of  anything 
small  or  mean,  above  all  low  suspicion,  bearing  no 
malice  in  his  heart.  At  times  he  was  called  upon  to 
say  and  do  things  that  for  the  moment  were  unpopular, 


34  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

but  he  had  the  moral  courage  and  the  manhood  to  do 
right  regardless  of  consequences." 

Perhaps  no  other  man  in  Southern  history,  except 
Aycock's  great  ideal,  General  Lee,  has  ever  fought  any 
great  fight  with  as  little  bitterness  as  Aycock  fought 
his.  The  writer  has  heard  Capt.  E.  E.  Lovell,  of  Wa- 
tauga, tell  of  hearing  General  Lee  give  orders  in  battle: 
"We  must  attack  those  people  at  yonder  point."  It 
was  simply  "those  people":  never  "the  Yankees,"  or 
"the  enemy,"  but  "those  people." 

"Hate  the  sin,  but  love  the  sinner,"  is  an  old  the- 
ological doctrine;  and  Aycock,  denouncing  Republican- 
ism, yet  liked  Republicans.  In  fact,  he  was  most 
effective  as  a  speaker  because  while  powerfully  arraign- 
ing what  he  regarded  as  a  bad  cause  he  would  persuade 
and  convince  its  advocates  rather  than  anger  them. 
In  a  letter  now  before  us,  a  friend  tells  of  hearing  Ay- 
cock in  Goldsboro  in  1898,  when  the  bitterness  of  that 
memorable  campaign  was  at  its  height.  He  was  inter- 
rupted in  a  flight  of  masterly  eloquence  by  some  one 
who  called  out,  "Give  it  to  Butler!"  Says  our  cor- 
respondent: "He  stopped  his  speech,  and  from  the 
grandest  oratory,  descended  to  that  gentle,  persuasive 
tone  peculiar  to  him,  and  replied  in  the  following  words : 
'No,  my  friend,  in  this  our  supreme  hour  of  victory,  I 
will  abuse  no  man!'" 

This  was  characteristic  of  Aycock  —  not  that  he  did 
not  speak  with  terrific  earnestness  and  force,  and  with 
powerful  conviction,  but  that  he  always  spoke  for 
something,  not  against  something.  He  was  speaking 
in  1898  not  against  the  negro,  but  for  the  white  man 
—  for  the  white  man's  inherent  right  to  rule  as  a  con- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  $5 

dition  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  both  races.  "I 
like  a  man  who  is  for  somebody,  who  is  for  something," 
he  wrote  but  a  few  months  before  he  died,  "not  a  man 
who  is  against  somebody,  or  against  something."  In 
other  words,  he  believed  in  a  life  of  positiveness,  not  of 
negation;  of  love,  not  of  hate.  In  Doctor  van  Dyke's 
fine  phrase,  he  "was  governed  by  his  admirations,  not 
by  his  disgusts."  And  very  early  in  his  career  he  found 
in  Tennyson's  "Maud,"  the  poem  which  he  loved  from 
his  youth  up,  and  which  he  knew  almost  by  heart,  an 
expression  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  keynote  of 
his  endeavors: 

"It  is  better  to  fight  for  the  good  than  to  rail  at  the  ill." 

Aycock  believed  as  strongly  as  anybody  in  remedy- 
ing the  evils  of  trusts,  but  it  was  not  because  he  was 
against  trusts,  but  because  he  was  for  justice.  No  one 
was  more  earnestly  opposed  to  the  freight  discrimina- 
tions against  the  State,  but  it  was  not  that  he  was 
against  the  railroads  but  for  equality.  No  North 
Carolinian  ever  more  powerfully  arraigned  the  pro- 
tective tariff,  but  this  was  not  that  he  was  against  capi- 
tal but  for  right.  His  tendencies  were  constructive, 
not  destructive;  positive,  not  negative.  He  would 
crowd  out  evil  by  supplanting  it  with  good  —  just  as  in 
boyhood  he  kept  a  field  from  growing  weeds  by  sowing 
wheat  on  it.  The  Biblical  injunction,  "Whatsoever 
things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely;  think  on 
these  things,"  —  rather  than  on  their  opposites  — 
was  never  lost  on  him.  It  was  because  of  this  fact  that 
Aycock's  nature  was  ever  sweet,  wholesome  and  serene. 
Emerson  observed  a  long  time  ago:     "It  is  easy  in  the 


36  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

world  to  live  after  the  world's  opinion;  it  is  easy  in 
solitude  to  live  after  our  own;  but  the  great  man  is  he 
who  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd  keeps  with  perfect  sweet- 
ness the  independence  of  solitude."  This  is  what  Ay- 
cock  did.  When  criticism  of  his  "universal  education" 
policy  was  fiercest,  and  it  was  said,  "Ay cock  couldn't 
even  be  elected  a  constable  in  Wayne  County,"  he  sat 
in  the  Governor's  office,  smoked  his  long-stem  pipe  and 
viewed  the  situation  with  composure  indeed,  but  not 
with  a  mere  stoical,  martyr-like  conviction  that  he  had 
done  his  duty  as  he  saw  it  and  must  take  the  conse- 
quences. That  sort  of  feeling  —  which  may  put  iron 
into  a  man's  blood  but  will  certainly  rob  it  of  its  warmth 
—  was  not  Ay  cock's  spirit  at  all.  He  not  only  knew 
that  he  had  done  his  duty  and  that  all  the  powers  of 
earth  could  not  make  him  swerve  from  it,  but  he  had  a 
perfect  trust  in  the  people:  absolute  confidence  that 
they  would  sooner  or  later  come  to  recognize  not  only 
the  integrity  of  his  purpose  but  the  wisdom  of  his  policy. 
And  in  this  spirit,  in  the  very  middle  of  his  adminis- 
tration, he  concluded  his  message  to  the  Legislature  of 
1903  with  these  words :  "  There  is  but  one  way  to  serve 
the  people  well,  and  that  is  to  do  the  right  thing,  trust- 
ing them,  as  they  may  ever  be  trusted,  to  approve  the 
things  which  count  for  the  betterment  of  the  State." 

Serena  was  Aycock's  mother's  name,  and  he  in- 
herited from  her  Quaker  blood  something  of  the  fine 
quality  which  her  name  suggested.  "I  never  know- 
ingly read  any  article  about  me  written  in  a  spirit  of 
either  praise  or  blame,"  he  said  to  the  writer  but  a  few 
months  before  his  death.  "If  it's  praise,  it  may  unduly 
excite  my  vanity;  if  blame,  it  might  arouse  some  ani- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  37 

mosity."  In  harmony  with  this  statement  is  a  story 
of  Dr.  J.  Y.  Joyner's.  Disagreeing  with  Aycock,  about 
a  matter  in  which  they  were  both  interested,  he  finally 
sent  Aycock  a  letter  written  in  some  heat.  Regretting 
this  on  more  mature  reflection,  he  wrote  in  apology  and 
received  substantially  this  reply:  "Your  first  letter 
was  received,  but  I  suspected  it  was  a  warm  number, 
and  it  has  never  been  opened.  I  am  returning  it  to 
you."  Rev.  Livingston  Johnson  also  gives  this  inci- 
dent :  "Just  before  he  retired  as  Governor,  I  wrote  him 
congratulating  him  upon  his  successful  administration, 
and  commending  especially  his  constructive  interest 
in  education.  He  replied  promptly,  thanking  me  for 
the  letter,  and  said  that  he  turned  over  all  such  letters  to 
his  daughter  who  wished  to  preserve  them,  but  the  ones 
bearing  adverse  criticism  he  destroyed  and  forgot." 

This  may  seem  to  have  little  to  do  with  our  initial 
declaration  regarding  love  and  simplicity  —  or  better, 
love  and  sincerity  —  as  the  dominating  qualities  of 
Aycock's  life;  but  in  fact,  it  has  much.  It  was  because 
he  loved  and  trusted  his  fellows  and  believed  in  them 
that  he  had  this  serene  confidence  in  their  Tightness, 
and  kept  his  faith  that  the  good  and  wholesome  things 
are  the  significant  things  and  the  only  things  which 
one  should  regard  or  remember.  In  the  most  eloquent 
sermon  the  writer  ever  heard  from  a  North  Carolina 
minister,  Bishop  Kilgo  pointed  out  that  the  Almighty's 
estimate  of  a  man  is  the  sublimest  moral  height  the 
man  ever  reaches  —  just  as  Barrie's  "Little  Minister" 
insists  that,  "To  see  the  best  is  to  see  most  clearly," 
and  Browning's  "Abt  Vogler"  declares  that  all  good 
shall  perish  "  with,  for  evil,  so  much  good  more."     Such 


38  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

was  Governor  Ay  cock's  doctrine.  Judge  Hoke  has 
referred  to  him  as  the  finest  exemplification  of  Lowell's 
sentiment: 

"  Be  noble  !     And  the  nobleness  that  lies 
In  other  men  sleeping  but  never  dead, 
Will  rise  in  majesty  to  meet  thine  own." 

He  maintained  that  one  should  believe  in  the  best 
in  people.  "You  can't  help  a  child  do  better  by  re- 
minding him  of  mistakes  and  shortcomings,"  he  would 
say,  "point  out  to  him  the  possibilities  and  rewards  of 
worthy  conduct  in  the  future."  Even  one's  errors 
and  failures  were  not  valueless  to  a  sincerely  aspiring 
man,  he  insisted;  and  that 

"  Men  may  rise  on  stepping  stones 
Of  their  dead  selves  to  higher  things," 

was  one  of  his  most  frequently  used  Tennysonian 
quotations. 

It  should  not  be  assumed,  however,  that  Aycock  was 
easily  deceived  by  men.  He  was  not.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  had  something  of  a  woman's  intuitive  prompt- 
ness in  "  sizing  up"  any  one  to  whom  he  was  introduced, 
and  his  judgment  was  seldom  in  error.  He  simply 
preferred  in  all  things  to  emphasize  the  good  he  saw 
rather  than  the  bad. 

Nor  should  any  one  suppose  that  Aycock  was  ever 
of  the  flattering,  back-slapping,  indiscriminately  [ef- 
fusive type  of  politician.  No  man  was  freer  from  such 
faults.  In  fact,  if  he  had  to  choose  between  abusing  a 
man  a  little  to  his  face,  or  paying  compliments  he  did  not 
believe  deserved,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  chosen 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  39 

to  abuse  him  a  little,  because  flattery  would  have  im- 
plied insincerity,  which  fault  of  all  faults  he  was  freest 
from.  He  loved  his  friends,  but  he  respected  Emerson's 
doctrine  that  one  "should  never  by  word  or  look 
overstep  one's  real  sympathy."  He  knew  how  to  ex- 
press his  regard  for  any  one  he  cared  for,  but  he  did  this 
in  such  a  way  as  never  to  appear  effusive.  As  some 
one  said  just  after  his  death:  "Charlie  could  let  you 
know  that  he  loved  you  without  ever  having  to  say  so 
in  words."  If,  therefore,  one  should  accept  Judge 
Pritchard's  estimate,  "As  a  friend  I  knew  him  best; 
there  was  no  truer,  sweeter,  more  affectionate  man," 
it  should  always  be  with  the  further  understanding  that 
Aycock  was  never,  to  use  his  own  excellent  phrase, 
"too  sweet  to  be  wholesome."  In  fact,  I  think  he 
should  hardly  have  liked  for  any  one  to  accuse  him  of 
having  "a  sweet  nature,"  unless  some  recognition  of 
his  robust  manliness  were  added.  Virile,  courageous, 
and  almost  literally  "six  foot  Al  of  man,  clean  grit  and 
human  natur',"  he  impressed  many  others  as  he  did 
Prof.  J.  I.  Foust  who  says:  "He  was  without  doubt  the 
bravest  man  with  whom  I  have  ever  come  into  contact." 

With  all  Aycock's.  high  ideals,  therefore,  and  his 
hatred  of  everything  mean  and  sordid  —  if,  indeed,  one 
should  not  even  here  use  the  positive  term  and  rather 
say  his  love  of  everything  high  and  worthy  —  the  writer 
never  heard    him    utter  a    word    that    sounded   like 

preaching . "  He  hated  cant  as  much  as  he  hated  vicious- 
ness,  and  hypocrisy  as  much  as  he  hated  meanness. 
In  extreme  cases  he  might  openly  rebuke  the  guilty — 
as  when  some  classmates  used  unfair  methods  in  an 
election  at  Chapel  Hill,  or  when  his  soul  flamed  out  in 


40  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

hot  indignation  at  some  lewd  fellows  on  a  train  who 
told  unclean  stories  in  the  presence  of  a  little  boy  — 
but  such  instances  were  rare.  He  preferred  rather  to 
do  as  General  Lee  did,  of  whom  he  wrote : 

"Lee  did  not  criticise  his  people;  he  did  not  reprove 
them;  he  did  not  even  tell  them  what  the  best  things  in 
life  were.  He  just  simply  lived  among  them  the  very 
best  things  that  there  are  in  life.  He  was  himself  the 
best  thing,  and  in  this  way  he  has  done  more  to  lift  us 
up  than  any  amount  of  speech  or  writing  can  ever  do." 

Ay  cock  was,  in  the  correct  meaning  of  the  phrase, 
the  most  natural  man  the  writer  has  ever  known.  He 
was  not  the  most  natural  man  in  the  sense  in  which 
Walt  Whitman  would  have  used  the  term,  meaning 
simply  the  most  natural  animal;  but  he  was  the  most 
natural  man  —  a  being  in  whom  body,  mind,  and  soul 
were  properly  coordinated;  a  being  who  could  feel  the 
soul's  "passion  for  eternity"  as  well  as  "the  wild  joys  of 
living"  in  the  physical  sense,  or  the  intellectual  delight 
of  following  knowledge  like  a  sinking  star  "beyond  the 
utmost  bound  of  human  thought."  He  was  a  well- 
rounded  man  —  Shakespeare's  ideal  in  whom  the  ele- 
ments were  so  mixed  up  —  and  having  body,  mind,  and 
soul  in  symmetry,  he  was  natural  in  the  sense  of  having 
a  sort  of  divine  disregard  of  all  pretense  or  affectation. 
His  unfeigning,  untroubled  nature  would  have  rejoiced 
the  heart  of  sham-hating  Emerson.  "He  was  just 
the  same  in  the  courthouse  or  the  drawing  room,"  as 
a  newspaper  man  remarked  of  him;  and  that  acute  ob- 
server, Erwin  Avery  wrote  truly:  "Ay cock's  curious 
consistency  of  character  impresses  one  more  than  any- 
thing else  in  his  make-up.     I  have  seen  him  in  an  old 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  41 

dressing  gown,  smoking  a  short  clay  pipe;  have  seen 
him  surrounded  by  flattering  women,  have  seen  him 
stand  within  four  feet  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  and  make  a  speech  that  was  admittedly  better 
than  the  speech  of  the  President,  and  yet  I  could  see 
no  difference  in  the  Governor  or  the  man.  He  is  a 
rare  being  who  is  absolutely  devoid  of  pretense  or 
affectation." 

The  other  basis  of  Aycock's  character,  along  with 
love  of  his  fellows  and  an  unusual  measure  of  sim- 
plicity and  sincerity,  was  a  profound  religious  faith.  Or, 
perhaps,  we  should  rather  say  that  a  profound  religious 
faith  was  the  basis  of  all  that  was  finest  in  his  character, 
including  this  love  of  others  which,  we  are  told,  is  "the 
fulfilling  of  the  law,"  and  sincerity  which  is  but  an- 
other name  for  truth,  the  basis  of  all  virtue.  Cer- 
tainly no  one  believed  more  strongly  than  Aycock 
himself  that  character,  to  be  stable,  must  have  a  re- 
ligious basis.  In  his  tribute  to  the  Moravians  at  the 
Salem  Centennial  he  said:  "They  attempted  to  carry 
out  to  the  fullest  the  injunction  'to  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul  and  with 
all  thy  strength,'  and  in  doing  this  they  were  able  to 
love  their  neighbors  as  themselves.  For  it  is  a  truth 
that  we  can  only  love  our  neighbors  as  we  love  our- 
selves, for  any  length  of  time  and  with  any  certainty, 
when  we  have  obeyed  the  first  injunction.  The  real 
Abou  Ben  Adhem  can  only  exist  in  him  who  has  first 
set  his  heart  upon  God,  for  no  one  truly  loves  his 
fellowman  who  does  not  first  love  Him  who  made  his 
fellowman." 

Let  us  repeat  that  Aycock  had  a  deeply  religious 


42  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

nature.  With  religious  ceremonials,  creeds,  and  forms 
he  was  not  much  concerned;  and  his  irregularity  in 
church  attendance  during  his  more  strenuous  years 
might  have  been  misunderstood  by  those  who  set  much 
store  by  the  outward  form  as  well  as  by  the  inward 
essence  of  religion.  Old  Samuel  Johnson,  one  must 
admit,  was  doubtless  right  in  saying  that  religion,  "  of 
which  the  rewards  are  distant  and  which  is  animated 
only  by  faith  and  hope,"  needs  to  be  constantly  "in- 
vigorated and  reimpressed  by  external  ordinances,  by 
stated  calls  to  worship,"  etc;  but  what  we  are  con- 
cerned with  now  is  only  to  set  down  the  simple  fact 
that  Aycock  —  like  his  sturdy,  Cromwellian  English 
forbears  —  had  an  innate  and  profound  religious  sense, 
although  not  active  as  a  "church  worker"  after  his 
strength  became  taxed  with  official  duties.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  meetings,  societies,  functions,  etc.,  of  any 
kind  had  little  attraction  for  him.  He  was  a  home 
lover,  and  his  law  practice  took  him  so  much  away  from 
home  that  it  was  hard  for  anything  to  draw  him  out 
when  it  was  possible  for  him  to  enjoy  the  quiet  of  home 
and  family  life. 

Ex-Judge  Robert  W.  Winston  has  written :  "  Aycock's 
faith  in  God  was  sublime.  He  had  no  more  doubt  of 
the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  than  he  had  of  his  own 
existence.  He  once  said:  'that  the  best  thing  about 
the  Christian  religion  to  him  was  that  your  sins  were 
not  only  forgiven,  but  blotted  out.'  " 

Talking  of  the  matter  recently,  Dr.  J.  Y.  Joyner  said: 

"Aycock  connected  himself  with  the  Baptist  Church 
while  he  was  a  student  at  the  University.  A.  C.  Dixon, 
a  brother  of  Thomas  Dixon,  was  pastor  of  the  Baptist 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  43 

Church  in  the  village  at  that  time  and  roomed  in  col- 
lege. He  was  a  vigorous,  magnetic  young  man  and  had 
great  influence  with  the  boys.  He  is  now  pastor  of 
Spurgeon's  Church  in  London.  In  a  protracted  meet- 
ing conducted  by  him  in  the  old  Baptist  Church  of  the 
little  village,  a  number  of  students  —  thirty  or  forty, 
according  to  my  recollection  —  professed  conversion 
and  connected  themselves  with  the  various  churches 
in  the  village.  Aycock  and  I  were  among  the  number 
that  joined  the  Baptist  Church  in  that  meeting.  He 
was  exceedingly  earnest  and  sincere  about  this  as  about 
everything  else.  We  were  baptized  one  beautiful 
Sunday  by  Mr.  Dixon,  in  Purefoy's  millpond,  about 
two  miles  from  the  little  village  of  Chapel  Hill." 

Young  Aycock  subsequently  walked  three  or  four 
miles  in  the  country  every  Sunday  afternoon  to  engage 
in  Sunday-school  work,  and  was  effective  in  interesting 
other  young  men  in  religion.  After  returning  to  Golds- 
boro  and  joining  the  Baptist  Church  there,  he  continued 
active  as  a  Bible  teacher,  although  sometimes  haunted, 
as  he  confessed  to  Rev.  Dr.  T.  M.  Hufham,  by  recollec- 
tions of  anti-Sunday-school  teachings  in  the  creed  of  his 
primitive  Baptist  ancestors. 

Throughout  his  life  he  kept  the  simple,  serene  and 
sincere  faith  to  which  he  gave  utterance  in  one  of  his 
Thanksgiving  proclamations:  "For  all  these  blessings 
we  owe  acknowledgment  to  the  Lord.  Things  do  not 
happen,  but  the  hand  of  God  is  in  every  happiness 
that  comes  to  our  people." 

On  these  three  things  therefore,  the  character  of 
Charles  Brantley  Aycock  was  grounded:  Faith  in  God, 
love  of  his  fellows,  and  absolute  freedom  from  all  pre- 
tenses or  affectation.  And  no  man  ever  began  a  life 
or  built  a  character  on  any  better  foundation. 


CHAPTER  IV 


AYCOCK   AS   A   LAWYER 


A  YCOCK  began  the  study  of  law  with  Dr.  Kemp 
/-\  P.  Battle  during  his  Senior  year  at  the  Uni- 
"*■  ■**  versity,  completing  the  course  under  the 
direction  and  instruction  of  Mr.  A.  K.  Smedes,  a 
lawyer  of  marked  ability  and  learning  of  the  Goldsboro 
bar.  He  received  his  license  from  the  Supreme  Court 
at  the  January  Term,  1881.  Among  the  members  of 
the  class  admitted  to  the  bar  at  this  term  were  William 
R.  Allen,  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
(1911),  Rodolph  Duffy,  Solicitor  (1905),  John  H. 
Small,  Member  of  Congress  (1898-1912),  Francis  D. 
Winston,  Judge  Superior  Court  (1903)  and  Lieutenant- 
Governor  (1904),  Thurston  T.  Hicks,  F.  A.  Cline, 
Judge  Superior  Court  (1910)  and  Frank  A.  Daniels, 
Judge  Superior  Court  (1911).  An  intimate  friendship 
with  the  last  named,  formed  while  at  school  and  main- 
tained at  the  University,  resulted  in  a  partnership  at 
Goldsboro,  which,  with  the  interruption  of  the  four- 
year  term  as  Governor,  continued  until  Aycock's  re- 
moval to  Raleigh  during  the  year  1909.  At  the  time 
of  his  admission  and  entrance  upon  the  practice,  the 
Goldsboro  bar  was  composed  of  Hon.  William  T. 
Dortch,  Judge  William  T.  Faircloth,  Mr.  Smedes, 
Col.  William  A.  Allen,  Mr.  Isaac  F.  Dortch,  Mr.  H.  F. 

44 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  45 

Grainger  and  Hon.  W.  S.  O'B.  Robinson,  all  strong, 
well-equipped  lawyers.  Mr.  Dortch  was  the  recog- 
nized leader  of  the  bar  of  the  then  Fourth  Circuit  in 
which  the  firm  of  Aycock  and  Daniels  sought  and  soon 
secured  a  strong  position.  Judge  George  V.  Strong  had 
removed  to  Raleigh  but  retained  his  practice  at  Golds- 
boro  as  the  partner  of  Mr.  Smedes.  After  the  death 
of  the  latter  he  became  the  senior  member  of  the  firm 
of  Strong,  Aycock  and  Daniels.  In  other  counties 
Aycock  met  and  shared  in  the  courthouse  business 
with  a  number  of  strong  and  able  lawyers. 

No  better  test  can  be  applied  to  the  metal  of  which  a 
lawyer  is  made  than  the  type  of  those  with  whom  he 
is  called  into  honorable  rivalry.  In  the  contests  of  the 
bar  it  is  especially  true  that  only  the  worthy  reach  large 
and  permanent  success.  That  Aycock,  by  close  atten- 
tion to  business,  diligent  study  of  the  books,  successful 
management  of  causes  committed  to  his  care  and  his 
qualities  as  a  man  and  a  lawyer,  soon  acquired  and 
retained  an  honorable  position  and  successful  practice 
among  this  body  of  lawyers,  is  proof  that  he  was  justly 
entitled  to  rank  high  in  his  vocation.  For  learning, 
high  standard  of  professional  life  and  conduct,  loyal 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  their  clients  and  civic  duty, 
honorable  ambition  pursued  by  honorable  methods, 
these  lawyers  and  citizens  have  had  no  superiors  in  the 
State.  The  social  and  professional  relations  established 
and  uniformly  sustained  between  the  young  members 
and  their  elders  of  the  Goldsboro  bar,  the  fatherly 
interest  and  affection  exhibited  by  the  seniors  for  the 
juniors  and  their  veneration  for  the  elders  was  a  source 
of  pleasure  to  the  first  and  of  inspiration  to  the  latter. 


46  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Aycock  very  early  developed  the  remarkable  power 
for  forensic  debate,  which  had  manifested  itself  at 
school  and  in  the  literary  society  of  the  University. 
While  in  no  degree  neglecting  the  first  requisite  of  a 
well-furnished  lawyer  —  the  study  of  the  law  —  he 
found  his  chief  interest  and  his  constant  delight  in  the 
courthouse,  before  the  judge  and  jury.  Beginning  with 
no  estate  or  source  of  income  upon  which  to  rely 
during  the  days  of  waiting  for  clients  and  fees,  he  prac- 
tised economy,  lived  within  his  income  and  laid  the 
foundation  broad  and  deep  for  the  large  success  which 
awaited  him.  When  it  had  come,  and  he  was  in  the 
enjoyment  of  its  rewards,  he  often  recalled  the  fact 
that,  during  his  first  year  at  the  bar,  he  received  but 
$144,  saying,  "I  worked  night  and  day  to  make  it.  I 
paid  twelve  dollars  a  month  for  my  board  and  bor- 
rowed the  money  to  pay  for  my  clothes.  I  made  $144, 
and  that  is  all  I  ought  to  have  made." 

Probably  no  partnership  was  ever  formed  by  two 
young  lawyers  more  congenial  in  its  personal,  or  more 
happily  adjusted  in  its  professional  and  business  re- 
lations than  that  of  Aycock  and  Daniels  which  had 
found  its  origin  in  the  sympathy  and  confidence  of  inti- 
mate friendship  of  school  and  classmates.  Both  partners 
had  honorable  aspirations  and  high  ideals  which  guided 
and  controlled  their  lives.  Temperamentally  they  dif- 
fered and  in  such  difference  was  found  the  perfect 
adjustment  in  their  work.  Each  found  his  chief  pleas- 
ure in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  those  departments 
best  suited  to  his  taste.  Their  relations  continued  to  the 
end  in  all  respects  cordial,  sympathetic  and  affectionate 
—  honorable  to  both. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  47 

With  that  confidence  in  his  ability  to  meet  and  dis- 
charge those  responsibilities  and  duties  in  life  which 
result  from  and  are  incident  to  the  growth  of  full  man- 
hood, so  soon  as  he  was  settled  down  to  work  young 
Aycock  entered  into  the  estate  of  matrimony  with  her 
whom  his  boyish  "favor  singled."  One  is  reminded  of 
Chancellor  Kent's  "Memoranda":  "I  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  January,  1785,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one,  and  then  married,  without  one 
cent  of  property,  for  my  education  exhausted  all  my 
resources  and  left  me  in  debt  which  it  took  me  three  or 
four  years  to  discharge.  Why  did  I  marry?  I  answer 
that,  at  the  farmer's  house,  where  I  boarded,  a  little 
modest,  lovely  girl  of  fourteen,  gradually  caught  my 
attention  and  insensibly  stole  upon  my  affections  and, 
before  I  thought  of  love  or  knew  what  it  was,  I  was  most 
violently  affected.  I  was  twenty-one  and  my  wife 
sixteen  when  we  married."  With  slight  variations,  this 
is  the  story  of  Charles  Aycock's  love  affair  and  the 
fulfilment  of  its  dream. 

Until  1893,  Aycock  prosecuted  his  profession  with 
constantly  increasing  reputation  and  success.  During 
these  years  he  attended  the  courts  of  the  old  Fourth 
District,  appearing  in  many  of  the  important  litigated 
cases.  His  services  were  frequently  called  for  in 
capital  and  important  civil  causes  in  other  sections. 

During  the  campaign  of  1892  he  canvassed  the  State 
as  candidate  for  Presidential  Elector  and,  upon  the 
accession  of  Mr.  Cleveland  to  the  Presidency,  was 
appointed  United  States  District  Attorney  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  North  Carolina.  This  was  the  first 
office  which  he  held,  other  than  the  superintendency  of 


48  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

the  public  schools  of  Wayne  County  and  the  chairman- 
ship of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Goldsboro  Graded 
Schools.  For  four  years  he  discharged  the  duties  of 
District  Attorney  with  marked  ability  and  satisfaction 
to  the  Administration  and  the  people.  Hon.  Augustus 
S.  Seymour,  the  District  Judge  at  that  time,  a  lawyer  of 
profound  learning  and  eminent  ability,  held  him  in 
very  high  esteem,  no  less  on  account  of  his  personal 
qualities  than  his  professional  attainments  —  a  senti- 
ment cordially  reciprocated  by  the  District  Attorney. 
While  discharging  the  duties  of  this  position,  he  re- 
tained and  increased  his  practice  in  the  state  courts 
imposing  onerous  labor  and  constant  attention.  Upon 
the  coming  in  of  Mr.  McKinley  he  retired  from  the  posi- 
tion and,  until  his  election  and  inauguration  as  Governor 
(1901),  he  devoted  himself  to  the  large  and  extensive 
practice  which  had  come  to  the  firm  as  the  reward  of  the 
labors  of  his  partner  and  himself  and  reputation  for 
ability  and  devotion  to  their  clients. 

After  four  years  of  service  to  the  State,  Governor 
Aycock  returned  to  Goldsboro  and  resumed  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law,  taking  the  place  in  the  office  and  busi- 
ness kept  open  for  him  by  the  loyal  friend  and  partner 
of  his  young  manhood.  It  was  known  to  his  intimate 
friends  —  he  was  not  of  the  kind  to  speak  to  others  of 
such  matters  —  that  he  left  his  high  official  position, 
after  rendering  honorable  and  invaluable  service  to  the 
State,  involved  in  debt  to  an  amount  which,  to  a  North 
Carolina  lawyer  with  a  large  family,  was  depressing. 
He  had  lived,  during  the  term  of  his  office,  with  modest 
economy  and  becoming  dignity,  but  the  salary  was 
small  and  the  demands  upon  the  Chief  Executive  large. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  49 

Important  professional  engagements  promptly  came  to 
him  and,  with  courage  and  devotion  to  duty,  he  began 
the  work  of  paying  his  indebtedness  and  discharging 
his  obligations  to  his  household. 

It  soon  became  apparent,  however,  that  his  place  was 
in  the  capital  of  the  State.  His  love  of  the  people, 
among  whom  he  had  spent  his  young  manhood,  who  had 
always  been  kind  and  considerate,  promoting,  by  gen- 
erous sympathy  and  active  aid,  his  aspirations,  caused 
him  to  hesitate  long  to  change  his  home.  He 
moved  to  Raleigh,  forming  a  copartnership  with 
Judge  Robert  W.  Winston,  who  came  from  Durham. 
The  association  was,  in  all  respects,  happy.  Both 
were  strong,  well-equipped  lawyers,  enjoying  a  large 
clientage  and  prepared  to  receive  and  care  for  the 
large  and  lucrative  business  which  sought  their 
service.  During  the  last  two  years  of  his  life  Aycock's 
health  began  to  fail,  but  he  met  and  discharged  the 
demands  upon  his  physical  and  mental  powers  with 
his  accustomed  energy  and  ability.  The  new  firm 
received  a  large  share  of  business  both  personal  and 
corporate.  Although  the  scene  of  his  largest  suc- 
cess and  greatest  triumphs  had  been  in  the  trial  of 
causes,  Governor  Aycock  was  recognized  as  a  wise, 
safe  counselor  in  large  business  affairs  requiring 
accurate  knowledge  of  commercial  and  corporation 
law.  The  reputation  of  a  lawyer  necessarily  rests  rather 
upon  tradition  than  historical  permanence;  but  few  of 
his  addresses  to  courts  and  juries  are  written  or  even,  at 
this  day,  taken  stenographically.  They  are  so  largely 
confined  to  the  facts  of  the  instant  case  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  preserve,  for  any  considerable  time,  a  living 


50  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

interest  in  them.  A  graphic  description  of  Governor 
Aycock,  at  his  best,  as  an  advocate,  is  given  by  Bishop 
Kilgo: 

"His  great  soul,  poured  itself  out  in  defence  of  any 
cause  in  which  he  had  faith.  Every  wrong,  every  in- 
justice, every  harmful  tendency  and  every  need  made 
his  heart  flame  with  the  passion  of  resentment.  Charles 
Aycock  could  not  tolerate  evil,  he  could  not  endure 
unfairness.  When  he  stood  in  the  courts  to  defend 
some  cause,  whether  of  the  great  or  the  small,  he  always 
went  far  beyond  the  mere  limitations  of  a  business  con- 
tract. He  seemed  to  forget  his  client  and  the  one  thing 
that  seized  him  with  dreadful  grip  was  the  thought  of 
possible  injustice  and  undeserved  pain  and,  under  this 
pressure,  his  voice,  as  he  stood  before  the  Court,  rang 
with  a  note  of  imperial  protest,  his  fine  eye  flashed  with 
the  fires  of  burning  indignation,  his  splendid  and  noble 
face  quivered  with  the  emotion  of  an  outraged  soul  and 
his  magnificent  body,  erect  and  commanding,  trembled 
with  the  bursting  dynamics  of  an  irresistible  intent. 
In  such  a  moment  what  a  picture  of  mediatorial  service 
he  was.  Who  that  ever  saw  him,  at  such  a  time,  will 
forget  the  scene.  He  was  a  glorious  example  of  a 
mighty  man,  who  knew  how  to  respond,  with  heart  and 
conscience,  and  hand  and  voice,  to  the  call  of  righteous- 
ness, as  he  heard  it  and  as  he  felt  it." 

The  impression  made  upon  men  by  his  intensity  of 
language  and  manner,  as  an  advocate,  is  illustrated  by 
the  prayer  of  an  old  colored  man,  whom  it  was  his  duty 
to  prosecute  while  District  Attorney.  "O  Lord,  have 
mercy  upon  Mr.  Aycock,  but,  O  Lord,  tame  him  down, 
tame  him  down!" 

Says  one  who  knew  him  well:  "He  loved  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law  —  its  contests  in  the  courthouse  —  it 
made  no  difference  to  him  whether  the  fee  was  five 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  51 

dollars  and  the  client  a  poor  man,  or  five  hundred  and 
the  client  a  rich  one  —  he  put  himself  into  the  contest 
and  forgot  all  else  save  his  client  and  his  cause." 
Judge  Daniels  well  says:  "It  was  one  of  the  great 
experiences  of  a  lifetime,  not  to  be  forgotten,  to  have 
seen  him  at  his  best  for  the  defendant  in  a  capital  case, 
contesting  every  inch,  watching  every  development, 
resisting  the  introduction  of  damaging  testimony,  pro- 
tecting his  client  from  every  aspersion  and,  when  the 
case  went  to  the  jury,  rising  to  the  height  of  the  occa- 
sion, dissecting  every  portion  of  the  testimony,  laying 
bare  every  motive  of  the  prosecution  and  witnesses, 
exposing  every  fallacy  and  every  falsehood,  tearing 
away  every  mask  of  hyprocrisy  with  the  power  of 
reason,  ridicule,  satire  and  invective;  constructing  upon 
the  evidence  an  impregnable  defence,  fortifying  it  with 
every  argument,  calling  to  his  aid  every  resource  known 
to  ingenuity  and  sustaining  it  with  overpowering  elo- 
quence until  the  prisoner  was  acquitted  amid  the 
plaudits  of  the  spectators  and  the  approval  of  the 
Court." 

He  was  very  happy  in  the  cross-examination  of  wit- 
nesses —  one  of  the  highest  and  most  essential  accom- 
plishments of  a  trial  lawyer.  A  striking  and  amusing 
instance  is  given  by  one  present  at  the  trial  of  a  case 
brought  by  a  man  for  damages  against  a  railroad  com- 
pany for  alleged  personal  injury.  He  claimed  that  his 
sense  of  hearing  had  been  seriously  impaired.  After 
the  plaintiff  had  given  a  most  affecting  display  of  his 
injury,  with  appropriate  paraphernalia,  Governor 
Aycock  began  the  cross-examination  by  a  line  of  ques- 
tions interesting  to  the  witness,  but  having  no  relation 


52  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

to  his  alleged  injury.  In  a  soft,  low  tone  of  voice  he  led 
the  plaintiff  along  until,  almost  in  a  whisper,  he  ob- 
tained prompt  answers  to  his  questions,  the  witness 
forgetting  the  part  which  he  was  playing  when,  sud- 
denly, Aycock  said  aloud,  "I  thought  you  couldn't 
hear."  The  cross-examination  had  the  desired  effect. 
He  seldom  attacked  a  witness,  never  doing  so  unless 
assured  that  the  witness  was  endeavoring  to  deceive 
the  jury  and  that  this  was  the  only  mode  of  exposure. 

He  was  fair  and  courteous  to  counsel,  although  when 
he  felt  and  thought  the  occasion  or  the  conduct  de- 
manded, he  was  crushing  in  humor  and,  rarely,  but 
sometimes,  sarcasm.  He  fought  fairly,  in  perfect 
candor  and  good  temper,  giving  and  taking  lusty 
blows.  While  absolutely  free  from  flattery  or  undue 
complacency  to  the  judge,  he  was  frank  and  courteous, 
with  personal  and  professional  dignity  of  manner  and 
language,  bold  and  courageous  in  presenting  and  press- 
ing his  view  of  the  law.  One,  before  whom  he  fre- 
quently appeared  in  the  trial  of  causes  and  the  argu- 
ment of  appeals,  bears  testimony  that,  whether  in  dis- 
sent or  agreement  with  his  views,  he  always  bore  him- 
self with  the  courtesy,  the  dignity,  the  manner  and 
language  of  a  lawyer  and  a  gentleman.  He  knew  his 
own  rights  and  those  of  his  client  —  he  maintained  both 
under  all  circumstances,  according  to  others  the  same 
meed  of  right.  Nothing  more  can  be,  or  should  be, 
said  of  a  true  lawyer. 

While  always  reverent  in  the  use  of  Biblical  quoia- 
tions  in  the  argument  of  causes,  he  was  very  happy  in 
their  appropriate  use.  A  striking  illustration  is  found 
in  the  trial  of  a  case  of  great  interest  and  importance 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  53 

during  the  last  year  of  his  life.  He  represented  the 
American  Tobacco  Company.  In  the  opening  argument 
counsel  for  plaintiff  had  dwelt,  at  length,  and  with  much 
force,  upon  the  magnitude,  the  wrongdoing  and  the 
monopolistic  power  of  the  defendant.  Governor  Ay- 
cock  began  his  argument  by  referring  to  these  observa- 
tions, reading  to  the  jury,  in  a  tone  of  impressive 
solemnity,  the  words  of  Leviticus:  "Ye  shall  do  no 
unrighteousness  in  judgment;  thou  shalt  not  respect 
the  person  of  the  poor,  nor  honor  the  person  of  the 
mighty,  but  in  righteousness  shalt  thou  judge  thy 
neighbor."  The  effect  upon  the  jury  and  the  by- 
standers was  manifest. 

He  loved  justice,  he  hated  injustice,  but  he  always 
insisted  that,  in  administering  justice  in  the  courts, 
both  judge  and  jury  should  administer  that  justice 
which  was  guaranteed  by  "the  law  of  the  land."  He 
believed  that  it  was  the  right  of  every  person  to  have 
justice  administered  according  to  law.  He,  therefore, 
had  respect  for  precedent  and  authority,  believing 
that  ours  is  a  government  of  laws  and  not  of  men.  He 
believed  in  democracy,  but  in  representative  govern- 
ment, the  people  being  the  source  of  sovereign  power 
and  the  laws  made  and  declared  by  them,  through  their 
representatives,  both  legislative  and  judicial,  the  meas- 
ure of  every  man's  legal  right  and  legal  duty.  No  man 
more  implicitly  trusted  the  people,  but  no  man  more 
fully  recognized  the  truth  that  the  will  of  the  people 
must  be  found  in  their  organic  law  and  not  in  their 
caprice  or  momentary,  transitory  opinions.  His  view 
regarding  the  distinction  between  the  function  of  the 
legislature  and  the  court  is  well  stated  in  one  of  the  last 


54  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

of  his  arguments.  In  the  trial  of  the  case  against  the 
American  Tobacco  Company,  referred  to  above,  one 
of  the  opposing  counsel  had  said  to  the  jury  that  the 
strongest  anti-trust  speech  he  had  ever  heard  was  made 
by  Governor  Aycock.  To  this  Aycock  replied :  "  Gen- 
tlemen, I  expect  that  is  true,  and  if  he  lives  long  enough 
he  will  hear  another.  But  he  will  hear  it  in  the  forum 
for  the  making  of  laws.  It  is  one  thing  to  make  a 
speech  to  the  people  who  make  the  laws,  but  quite 
another  thing  to  make  a  speech  in  this  courthouse,  where 
it  is  the  duty  of  Your  Honor  and  the  jury  not  to  make 
law  but  to  construe  and  enforce  existing  law.  If  you 
ask  me  if  the  laws,  on  this  subject,  are  adequate,  I  will 
say  no;  but  what  I  do  say,  and  say  with  all  the  sincerity 
of  the  most  earnest  conviction,  is  that  these  defendants 
have  not  put  themselves  within  any  law  that  has  been 
written  on  any  statute  book  anywhere." 

Only  a  few  weeks  before  his  death,  presenting  to  the 
Supreme  Court  a  portrait  of  the  late  Chief  Justice  Shep- 
herd, he  thus  expressed  his  thought  regarding  that  system 
of  refined  morality  administered  by  Courts  of  Equity: 

"  To  be  a  great  equity  lawyer  involves  not  only  much 
learning  and  culture  of  mind,  but  great  qualities  of 
heart  as  well.  It  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  he  was 
fair  in  his  dealings  with  men,  that  he  not  only  knew 
right  and  wrong  in  the  abstract  but  in  the  daily  prac- 
tice among  men,  that  he  realized  obligations  and  duties, 
that  he  contemplated  the  beauty  of  trust  and  confidence 
and  deprecated  its  abuse,  that  he  was  familiar  with  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  believed  it  to  be  the  best 
exposition  extant  of  the  duty  of  man." 

That  he  was  absolutely  fearless  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duty  to  his  client  is  no  unusual  praise  of  a  real  lawyer. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  55 

To  have  been  otherwise  would  have  been  to  forfeit  not 
only  his  self-respect  but  his  right  to  serve  in  the  temple 
of  justice.  He  expressed  forcibly  and  clearly  his  atti- 
tude in  this  respect  a  short  time  before  his  death. 
Being  called  to  defend  a  man  who  had,  by  his  conduct, 
rendered  himself  odious  to  the  right-thinking  men  of  the 
community  in  which  he  lived,  he  felt  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  accept  the  employment.  To  the  remonstrance 
of  a  citizen  whom  he  respected,  he  said: 

"I  have  never  understood  that,  in  appearing  for 
people  charged  with  having  committed  offences,  I  was 
upholding  either  the  offence  or  the  offender.  It  is 
fundamental  that  every  man  should  have  a  fair  trial 
when  he  is  indicted.  If  apprehension  of  unpopularity 
should  be  allowed  by  lawyers  to  keep  them  from  ap- 
pearing for  unpopular  men,  the  unpopular  man  would 
be  utterly  unable  to  secure  that  fair  hearing  which  is 
not  only  his  right  but  is  the  safety  of  the  people  them- 
selves. I  have  profound  convictions  on  this  subject, 
and  I  would  not  forego  them  in  order  to  win  any  office. 
I  believe  that  the  safety  of  our  people  lies  in  the  right 
of  every  man  to  have  counsel,  and  this  right  carries 
with  it  the  duty  of  counsel  to  take  whatever  may  come 
to  them  in  consequence  of  their  appearance." 

This  truth  he  exemplified  on  all  proper  occasions. 
While  he  correctly  held  to  and  practised  this  view,  he 
was  very  far  from  regarding  himself  or  his  services  as  a 
lawyer  as  open  to  all  "business  propositions."  He 
drew  the  fine  of  demarcation  with  a  clear  conception  of 
the  distinction  between  the  duty  and  function  of  the 
lawyer  and  the  mere  trader  in  the  law.  When,  after  he 
had  acquired  distinction  and  influence  by  his  life  of 
labor,  and  the  honors  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  people, 


56  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

offers  of  regular  employment  by  the  year  came  to  him 
from  powerful  corporate  interests,  he  replied  that  he 
was  willing  to  appear  for  any  person  or  corporation  in 
any  individual  case,  but  he  would  not  sell  his  influence 
or  accept  employment  which  compelled  him  to  serve 
them  at  all  times,  saying :  "  The  people  of  North  Caro- 
lina have  honored  me  far  beyond  my  deserts.  They 
have  done  for  me  much  more  than  I  ever  dreamed  of. 
They  have  given  me  some  degree  of  honor  and  of  in- 
fluence among  my  fellow  men  and  this  position  of  mine 
is  not  for  sale  —  money  cannot  buy  it." 

As  a  student  of  history  and  constitutional  develop- 
ment, he  well  understood  that  there  must  be  growth 
and  expansion  to  enable  written  constitutions  to  meet 
and  adjust  themselves  to  the  wants  of  a  free,  progres- 
sive people;  nevertheless  he  appreciated  the  lesson 
taught  by  experience  that  those  limitations  upon  gov- 
ernment should  be  guarded  with  jealous  care  and 
strictly  construed  in  behalf  of  the  liberty  of  the  citizen 
and  the  protection  of  his  property.  He  was,  in  this 
respect,  a  strict  constructionist.  Speaking  with  some 
intensity  of  language  of  the  creation  by  the  legislature 
of  local  police  courts  with  extended  jurisdiction  to  hear 
cases  against  persons  charged  with  crime,  without 
presentment  or  indictment  by  a  grand  jury,  or  trial  by 
a  petit  jury,  imposing  heavy  fines  and  long  terms  of 
imprisonment  at  hard  labor,  he  said: 

"I  sincerely  desired  to  startle  the  people.  I  am  not 
accustomed  to  use  polite  phraseology  when  the  liberties 
of  the  people  are  involved.  We  are  wasting,  in  our 
hurry,  the  most  precious  heritage  which  a  people  ever 
had.     Well-meaning  men  over-anxious  for  public  econ- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  57 

omy  and  desirous  of  quick  punishment  have  ever  been 
eager  to  overthrow  the  barriers  between  government 
and  persons  charged  with  the  commission  of  crime; 
but  wise  men,  knowing  the  difficulty  with  which  liberty 
is  established  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  that  the 
strong  arm  of  the  government  is  frequently  reaching 
out  for  the  innocent,  are  alert  to  shield  the  weak  against 
the  oppressive  power  of  the  strong,  and  are  earnestly 
desirous  of  maintaining  unimpaired  the  security  which 
comes  from  the  interposition  of  a  grand  jury  between 
the  citizen  and  the  government.  Let  us  remove  not 
the  ancient  landmark  which  the  fathers  have  set." 

That  he  was  able  to  impress  those  against  whom  he 
appeared,  with  his  powers  and  retain  their  good  will, 
is  illustrated  by  an  incident  when  prosecuting  a  bad, 
dangerous  man  for  crime,  whom  he  denounced  in 
strong  terms.  Upon  coming  out  of  the  courthouse  the 
defendant  approached  him,  saying:  "Mr.  Aycock, 
next  time  I  want  you  for  my  lawyer  and  not  against 
me." 

Many  stories,  with  more  or  less  adornment,  are  told 
on  the  circuit  of  Aycock's  power  of  advocacy,  of  quick 
retort  and  humorous  parrying  of  dangerous  points,  in 
the  trial  of  causes.  No  one  enjoyed  more  keenly  a 
happy  "turning  of  the  tables"  upon  himself  by  witness 
or  counsel.  He  enjoyed  telling  of  the  reply  of  the  wit- 
ness whom  he  sought  to  confuse  by  suddenly  asking  : 
"Whom  did  you  marry?"  "I  married  a  woman." 
"Now  isn't  that  a  bright  answer,"  retorted  Aycock; 
"did  you  ever  hear  of  anybody  who  didn't  marry  a 
woman?"  "Well,  yes,"  the  witness  quickly  answered, 
"there  is  my  sister  —  she  married  a  man."  The  wit- 
ness was  permitted  to  "stand  aside." 


58  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Those  who  rode  the  circuit  with  Aycock  will  never 
forget,  or  cease  to  think  with  pleasure  upon  the  social 
side  of  this  experience.  One  of  his  favorite  courts  was 
Snow  Hill,  in  Green  County.  There,  in  a  large,  comfort- 
able room  in  winter,  with  an  open  wood  fire,  the  lawyers 
would  gather  after  supper  for  pleasant  conversation. 
Aycock,  with  his  clay  pipe,  long  reed  root  stem,  dis- 
coursing upon  poetry,  politics,  law  and  literature,  was 
always  genial,  entertaining,  sociable.  He  would  some- 
times take  an  extreme  position  on  some  subject  of 
controversy,  maintain  it  with  spirit  and  resourcefulness, 
never  conceding  an  inch  of  ground,  but  permitting 
himself  to  be  driven  to  most  ultra  positions  until  the 
midnight  hour  was  far  gone  and  the  crowd  would  break 
up  with  Aycock  insisting,  in  the  most  whimsical  tones, 
that  he  had  routed  all  opponents  and  held  the  palm  of 
victory.  The  long  walks  along  the  banks  of  Content- 
nea  Creek,  with  pleasant,  light  conversation,  or  remi- 
niscences of  victories  and  defeats  in  the  courthouse, 
would  send  all  back  with  keen  appetites  to  Mrs.  Dail's 
bountiful  table  and  restful  beds.  It  was  in  these  and 
such  like  associations  that  Aycock  was  the  delightful 
companion,  the  interesting  talker,  the  perfect  lawyer 
"on  the  circuit."  There  are  those  who,  in  such  ex- 
periences, came  to  sound  the  depths  of  his  mind  and 
heart,  learned  to  feel  something  closely  akin  to  manly 
love  for  him,  and  to  receive  in  return  his  affection. 

His  conceded  ascendancy  in  the  trial  of  causes  has, 
to  some  extent,  overshadowed  his  reputation  and  suc- 
cess in  the  argument  of  appeals  in  the  Supreme  Court. 
He  preferred  to  talk  to  the  "country"  —  the  twelve 
"good  and  lawful  men" — rather  than  those  who  dealt 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  59 

with  the  "printed  record,"  to  which  counsel  was  con- 
fined." The  "rules"  always  "bothered"  him,  and  he 
humorously  insisted  that  he  could  not  learn  them  and 
was  in  constant  fear  of  being  "dismissed"  for  non- 
compliance with  their  "rigid  requirements."  But 
when  interested  and  aroused  in  an  argument  upon 
appeal,  he  was  strong,  resourceful,  helpful  and  convinc- 
ing. He  cited  but  few  authorities  —  never  a  text- 
book. His  arguments  were  usually  upon  "the  reason 
of  the  thing,"  with  apt  quotations  from  "cases  in  point," 
or  piquant  expressions  taken  from  opinions.  He  de- 
lighted in  the  application  of  an  old  principle  to  a  new 
"  state  of  facts."  Those  who  heard  him  in  the  Supreme 
Court  recognized  that  if  his  taste  had  led  him  into  that 
sphere  of  practice  he  would  have  excelled  in  an  eminent 
degree.  His  power  of  analysis  and  of  application  of 
legal  principles  to  the  "case  in  hand"  marked  him  as  a 
lawyer  of  rare  power.  His  briefs  were  usually  short, 
well  prepared  and  helpful  to  the  Court. 

He  won  high  praise  from  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  by  his  argument  in  the 
"railroad  rate  case."  Governor  Glenn,  who  was 
present  and  deeply  interested,  has  given  an  interesting 
description  of  Governor  Ay  cock's  manner  and  the 
impression  made  by  him  upon  the  Court.  He  says: 
"Aycock  began  to  speak  in  a  low  voice,  almost  in- 
audible, all  present  intently  listening  to  hear  him. 
The  venerable  Chief  Justice  remarked,  'A  little 
louder,  Governor,  if  you  please.'  He  raised  his  voice 
and  slowly  and  deliberately  proceeded  to  lay  down  the 
contentions  of  the  State  with  forceful  logic  and  ap- 
propriate quotations   from   decisions.     As  he   spoke, 


60  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

his  form  seemed  to  expand,  his  eye  sparkled,  his 
hands  moved  in  commanding  gesture,  until  he  closed 
in  a  grand  peroration,  insisting  in  dignified  language 
upon  the  right  of  the  State  to  control  the  railroads 
free  from  the  interference  of  the  Federal  Courts.  At  the 
close,  all  within  the  bar  gladly  and  warmly  congratu- 
lated him  upon  his  masterly  argument  and  eloquent 
defence  of  the  rights  of  the  State,  whose  chosen  ad- 
vocate he  was."  While  he  desired  that  no  injustice 
be  done  the  railroads,  his  convictions,  acquired  by 
heredity,  education  and  experience,  resented  the  inter- 
ference by  the  courts  in  the  exercise  of  the  sovereign 
rights  of  the  State.  Justice  Harlan,  who  adopted  his 
view  in  a  strong,  dissenting  opinion,  said  to  Governor 
Glenn:  "You  have  a  wonderful  man  in  Governor 
Aycock,"  declaring  that  his  dissenting  opinion  "was 
based  almost  entirely  upon  Ay  cock's  argument." 

Any  estimate  of  Governor  Aycock  as  a  lawyer  would 
be  incomplete  which  failed  to  emphasize  his  high 
ideals  of  the  ethics  of  the  profession  and  the  practice  of 
the  law.  In  this  respect  he  was  well-nigh  perfect. 
Both  by  precept  and  example  he  taught  and  practised, 
illustrated  and  emphasized  the  truth  that  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  is  the  highest  duty  as  it  is  the  highest 
privilege  of  man.  The  law,  to  him,  was  a  jealous  mis- 
tress demanding  his  best  powers  and  most  reverent  ser- 
vice. In  an  active  practice,  in  all  of  its  departments,  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  no  man  thought  or 
suggested  that  he  had  perverted  justice,  made  falsehood 
to  triumph,  truth  to  be  sacrificed,  or  used  his  privileges 
to  minister  in  the  courts  for  other  than  honorable 
ends  by  honorable  means. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   MENACE   OF   NEGRO   SUFFRAGE 

WE  APPROACH  now  a  period  of  Aycock's 
career  about  which  it  is  difficult  to  write 
without  seeming  to  do  so  in  the  spirit  of 
partisanship.  We  wish,  therefore,  at  the  very  be- 
ginning to  disclaim  any  consciousness  of  being  influ- 
enced by  such  a  spirit.  Yet  we  realize  that  inasmuch 
as  Aycock  was  himself  a  strong  partisan,  we  should 
be  not  only  untrue  to  history  but  also  unjust  to  his 
fame  were  we  to  represent  him  in  any  other  light.  He 
believed  sincerely  in  the  principles  of  the  party  to 
which  he  was  attached;  consequently  we  shall  be 
compelled  to  state  some  of  those  principles  as  strongly 
as  possible  in  order  to  make  clear  the  impelling  motives 
and  purposes  of  his  life.  He  was  passionately  inter- 
ested in  good  government;  therefore  it  will  be  nec- 
essary to  write  plainly  of  the  system  of  state  and  local 
administration  which  he  was  so  largely  instrumental 
in  overthrowing.  He  believed  that  the  only  hope  of 
good  government  in  North  Carolina,  and  the  other 
Southern  States,  rested  upon  the  assured  political 
supremacy  of  the  white  race;  therefore  the  effect  of 
negro  supremacy  in  the  political  affairs  of  North 
Carolina  must  be  clearly  explained.  The  great 
political  movements  of  which  he  was  Democracy's 

61 


62  THE  LITE  AND  SPEECHES 

chosen  leader  have  now  passed  into  history,  and  as 
history  we  shall  attempt  to  describe  them. 

Aycock  was  a  Democrat,  no  less  in  the  partisan  than 
in  the  general  meaning  of  the  term,  and  no  man  has 
described  what  that  term  meant  to  him  better  than 
he,  himself.     Said  he: 

"I  am  a  Democrat.  I  am  not  a  conservative  or  a 
reactionary  Democrat.  I  am  not  a  progressive  Demo- 
crat, for  the  word  'Democrat'  with  me  is  a  noun  sub- 
stantive of  so  fine  and  large  import  that  it  admits  of 
no  addition  or  diminution  of  any  qualifying  word  or 
phrase. 

"What  is  a  Democrat?  He  is  an  individualist.  He 
believes  in  the  right  of  every  man  to  be  and  to  make  of 
himself  what  God  has  put  into  him.  He  is  a  man  who 
believes  and  practises  the  doctrine  of  equal  rights  and 
the  duty  and  obligation  of  seeing  to  it  as  far  as  he  can 
that  no  man  shall  be  denied  the  chances  in  life  which 
God  intended  for  him  to  have.  He  is  a  man  who  be- 
lieves in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  who  is 
filled  with  that  spirit  of  equality  which  has  made  this 
country  of  ours  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed  of  all  the 
world  and  the  hope  of  this  age  and  of  all  ages  to 
come.     .     .     . 

"Equal!  That  is  the  word.  On  that  word  I  plant 
myself  and  my  party  —  the  equal  right  of  every  child 
born  on  earth  to  have  the  opportunity  'to  burgeon  out 
all  that  there  is  within  him.'" 

Herein  we  have  the  keynote  not  only  of  his  pro- 
fessed political  faith,  but  of  his  entire  career  of  public 
service. 

Aycock's  interest  in  politics  began  almost  in  his 
infancy.  He  was  only  six  years  of  age  when  the  Civil 
War  came  to  a  close  and  the  people  of  North  Carolina 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  63 

found  themselves  face  to  face  with  the  task  of  reorgan- 
izing their  social  and  political  systems.  The  situation 
was  full  of  peril  and  required  the  best  thought  and 
efforts  of  patriotic  men.  The  boy  Aycock,  as  we  have 
already  related,  heard  the  problems  of  good  govern- 
ment discussed  around  his  father's  fireside,  and  there 
learned  that  good  government  cannot  be  secured  with- 
out the  constant,  unremitting  efforts  of  the  best  citi- 
zens. He  was  so  accustomed  to  hearing  the  terms 
"Democratic  party"  and  "good  government"  asso- 
ciated together  that  he  grew  up  in  the  firm  and  sincere 
belief  that  they  were  synonymous.  As  he  grew  in 
years  the  study  of  American  history  confirmed  his 
faith  in  the  principles  of  that  party  and  intensified 
his  predilection  for  politics.  Returning  from  the 
University  in  1880,  full  of  youthful  enthusiasm,  he 
plunged  at  once  into  the  political  contests  of  his  own 
community,  and  before  he  was  of  age  canvassed  Wayne 
County  in  the  interest  of  the  Democratic  party.  From 
that  year  until  his  death  probably  no  campaign  was 
waged  in  that  county  in  which  his  voice  was  not  heard 
in  support  of  his  party  principles;  and  for  many  years 
it  was  customary  for  him  to  bring  each  campaign  to  a 
close  by  a  speech  in  Goldsboro  on  the  night  before 
election. 

His  reputation  as  a  campaigner  soon  extended  beyond 
the  borders  of  his  own  county,  and  he  was  frequently 
drafted  into  service  by  the  party  in  the  neighboring 
counties.  In  1888  he  was  nominated  as  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  district  elector,  and  together  with 
his  opponent  made  a  thorough  canvass  of  the  district. 
This   campaign   strengthened    Aycock's    powers   and 


64  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

developed  his  sense  of  humor,    of  which  his  earlier 
speeches,  we  are  told,  had  given  little  indication. 

The  next  four  years  added  to  his  reputation,  and  in 
1892  the  State  Convention  of  the  Democratic  party 
nominated  him  for  elector-at-large.  This  nomination 
brought  with  it  a  greater  responsibility  than  usual. 
The  newly  organized  People's  party,  drawing  its 
strength  mainly  from  the  Democratic  party,  had 
entered  the  field  with  full  state  and  national  tickets. 
Low  prices  of  agricultural  products  due,  it  was  claimed, 
to  the  demonetization  of  silver,  extravagance  in  the 
administration  of  the  State  government,  and  the 
"restoration  of  local  self-government"  in  the  counties 
and  towns  of  the  State,  were  the  issues  upon  which 
the  new  party  in  North  Carolina  appealed  to  the 
people  for  support.  Aycock,  in  common  with  other 
thoughtful  men,  realized  that  this  movement  threat- 
ened not  merely  the  success  of  the  Democratic 
party,  but  what  was  of  far  greater  moment,  the 
supremacy  of  the  white  race  in  North  Carolina. 
The  system  of  county  government  which  the  Pop- 
ulists vigorously  assailed  had  been  made  neces- 
sary by  the  presence  in  many  of  the  eastern 
counties  of  a  large  and  ignorant  mass  of  negro  voters, 
and  was  one  of  the  results  of  the  misrule  of  Recon- 
struction days.  It  dated  from  1875,  when  the  people, 
at  the  instance  of  the  Democratic  party,  changed 
the  Constitution  and  authorized  the  Legislature  to 
provide  for  the  government  of  the  counties.  Under 
that  Constitution  a  system  was  provided  which  did 
indeed  violate  the  principle  of  local  self-government, 
but  violated  it  in  order  that  security  of  life,  liberty 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  65 

and  property  might  be  maintained.  "The  counties 
of  western  North  Carolina,"  as  Governor  Ay  cock  said, 
"gave  up  their  much-loved  right  of  local  government 
in  order  to  relieve  their  brethren  of  the  east  from  the 
intolerable  burden  of  negro  government."  For  twenty 
years  the  Republican  party  had  waged  unceasing 
war  against  this  system,  but  so  long  as  the  great  ma- 
jority of  the  white  voters  of  the  State  remained  united 
their  political  supremacy  in  the  eastern  counties  was 
in  no  danger.  But  now  the  Populist  party,  composed 
mainly  of  dissatisfied  white  voters  who  had  left  the 
Democratic  party,  also  took  up  the  fight  on  this  issue, 
and  thus  began  that  division  of  the  white  voters  which 
eventually  resulted  in  the  bad  government,  violence 
and  bloodshed  of  1898,  and  the  adoption  of  the  suffrage 
amendment  of  1900. 

Foreseeing  the  evils,  which  the  movement  threat- 
ened, Aycock  threw  himself  into  the  campaign  of 
1892  with  all  the  vigor  and  energy  of  which  he  was 
capable.  Opposed  to  him  was  the  Populist  candidate 
for  elector-at-large,  Mr.  Marion  Butler,  and  a  series 
of  joint  discussions  was  arranged  between  them. 
Two  opponents  could  not  have  differed  more  in  tem- 
perament and  method.  Mr.  Butler  was  deliberate, 
incisive,  and  dispassionate;  Aycock  was  vigorous,  log- 
ical, and  eloquent.  Mr.  Butler  was  argumentative 
and  plausible;  Aycock  simple,  direct,  never  trite  nor 
vulgar,  never  subtle  nor  abstruse.  It  was  Mr.  Butler's 
task  to  convince,  Aycock' s  to  conciliate.  Aycock  had 
the  power  of  putting  his  case  in  such  a  way  as  not 
to  invite  argument,  so  that  his  statements  seemed 
to  be  less  an  expression  of  his  own  views  than  the  con- 


66  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

elusions  reached  by  his  hearers  themselves.  No  cam- 
paign since  the  Vance-Settle  campaign  of  1876  had 
attracted  so  much  attention  throughout  the  State, 
and  the  debates  were  heard  by  large  crowds.  Aycock 
more  than  measured  up  to  the  expectations  of  his 
friends.  His  speeches  were  marked  by  a  decided 
advance  in  style,  delivery  and  effectiveness,  and  im- 
pressed all  who  heard  them  not  only  with  his  fairness 
and  wisdom,  but  also  with  his  compelling  personality 
and  wonderful  power  in  debate. 

Relying  on  the  righteousness  of  his  cause  he  re- 
frained from  personalities,  and  scorned  to  take  any 
unfair  advantage  of  his  opponent.  For  instance, 
when  Mr.  Butler,  without  any  reason  or  explanation 
being  given,  failed  to  meet  him  at  Warrenton,  one  of 
the  places  appointed  for  a  joint  discussion,  Aycock 
refused  to  seize  upon  his  absence  as  a  legitimate  topic 
for  discussion,  but  when  he  arose  to  speak*  referred  to 
it  only  to  say:  "I  do  not  know  what  has  prevented 
Mr.  Butler's  coming  here  to-day,  but  I  am  sure  he  has 
a  good  reason  for  his  absence,  for  whatever  else  may  be 
said  of  him,  he  can  not  be  called  a  coward."  And  on 
another  occasion,  as  related  elsewhere,  when  some  of 
his  too  enthusiastic  partisans  wished  to  hear  him  casti- 
gate Mr.  Butler  in  his  absence,  Aycock  refused  to 
gratify  them,  declaring  that  the  occasion  was  too  great 
and  the  questions  at  issue  too  momentous  to  be  lost 
sight  of  in  personalities.  It  was  probably  the  recol- 
lection of  such  incidents  in  his  contest  with  Aycock 
that  inspired  Mr.  Butler  to  write  of  him:  "He  was  the 
high  type  of  a  man  who  could  meet  a  strong  opponent 
in  the  fiercest  kind  of  a  contest,  and  yet  command  the 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  67 

respect  of  his  opponent  more  at  the  end  than  at  the 
beginning." 

In  the  campaign  of  1892  there  were  three  state  and 
national  tickets  in  the  field  —  Democratic,  Repub- 
lican, and  Populist  —  and  in  this  triangular  contest 
the  Democrats  won.  Two  years  later,  1894,  the 
Populists  and  Republicans  fused  their  interests,  and 
not  only  elected  several  congressmen  and  judges,  but, 
what  was  far  more  important,  captured  the  Legisla- 
ture. In  1896,  by  the  same  methods,  they  secured  con- 
trol of  all  three  branches  of  the  State  government  and 
of  many  of  the  counties.  The  basis  of  their  control 
was  the  solid  negro  vote  estimated  at  from  120,000 
to  125,000.  Thus  the  people  of  North  Carolina  were 
to  see  tested  again  the  experiment  which  had  failed 
during  the  days  of  Reconstruction  —  the  effort  of  a 
party  composed  chiefly  of  a  negro  constituency  to 
provide  good  government  for  a  Commonwealth  founded 
upon  an  Anglo-Saxon  civilization. 

Coming  into  power  upon  a  distinct  pledge  to  restore 
local  self-government  to  the  people  of  the  State,  the 
Fusionists  proceeded  to  carry  this  pledge  into  execu- 
tion. An  act  (entitled  "An  act  to  restore  to  the 
people  of  North  Carolina  local  self-government") 
was  passed  which  overturned  the  system  of  county 
government  then  in  operation.  Whether  so  intended 
or  not,  the  new  system  turned  over  to  negro  rule 
the  chief  city  of  the  State,  several  important  towns, 
and  many  of  the  eastern  counties.  Then  the  country 
saw  repeated  the  scenes  which  have  made  the  memory 
of  Reconstruction  a  nightmare  to  the  people  of  the 
South.     Negro    politicians,    often    illiterate,    always 


68  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

ignorant,  generally  corrupt,  presided  over  the  inferior 
courts,  dominated  county  school  boards  and  district 
school  committees,  and  served  as  county  commissioners 
and  city  councilmen.  They  were  found  on  the  police 
force  of  the  State's  chief  city,  they  were  made  city 
attorneys,  and  they  were  numbered  among  county 
coroners,  deputy  sheriffs,  and  registers  of  deeds. 
Lawlessness,  violence,  and  corruption  followed.  In 
some  of  the  counties  the  situation  became  unbearable, 
while  in  such  towns  as  Wilmington,  New  Bern,  and 
Greenville  neither  life  nor  property  nor  woman's 
honor  was  secure.  Governor  Aycock  did  not  exagger- 
ate the  situation  when,  in  his  Inaugural  Address,  he 
declared  that  during  those  years  of  negro  rule  "law- 
lessness walked  the  State  like  a  pestilence  —  death 
stalked  abroad  at  noonday  —  'sleep  lay  down  armed'  — 
the  sound  of  the  pistol  was  more  frequent  than  the 
song  of  the  mocking-bird  —  the  screams  of  women, 
fleeing  from  pursuing  brutes,  closed  the  gates  of  our 
hearts  with  a  shock." 

The  historian  will  not  undertake  to  say  that  the 
party  in  power  intended  to  produce  this  condition  of 
affairs,  but  he  will  say  that  Governor  Aycock  was 
right  in  his  analysis  of  the  situation  when  he  declared: 

"We  have  had  but  two  periods  of  Republican  rule 
in  North  Carolina  —  from  1868  to  1870,  and  from  1896 
to  1898.  That  party  contains  a  large  number  of  re- 
spectable white  men,  but  the  negro  constitutes  two 
thirds  of  its  voting  strength.  Government  can  never 
be  better  nor  wiser  than  the  average  of  the  virtue  and 
intelligence  of  the  party  that  governs.  The  Republi- 
cans insist  that  we  have  never  had  negro  rule  in  North 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  69 

Carolina;  that  the  Republican  party  elects  white 
men  to  office,  and  that  this  fact  gives  us  a  government 
of  white  men.  Governor  Russell,  in  his  message  to  the 
last  Legislature,  vindicates  himself  against  the  charge 
of  appointing  negroes  to  office,  and  proudly  boasts 
that  out  of  818  appointments  made  by  him,  not  more 
than  eight  were  negroes.  He  misses  the  point  which 
we  made,  and  make,  against  his  party;  it  is  not  alone 
that  Governor  Russell  put  eight  negroes  in  office,  and 
his  party  a  thousand  more,  but  that  the  125,000 
negroes  put  him  in  office  over  the  votes  of  the  white 
men  —  it  is  the  party  behind  the  officeholder  that 
governs,  and  not  the  officeholder  himself.  There  is 
no  man  in  the  State  to-day  more  certainly  conscious 
than  Governor  Russell  that  he  has  failed  of  his  purpose 
because  he  had  behind  him  the  negroes  of  the  State, 
and  not  the  white  men.  We  had  a  white  man  for 
governor  in  1870,  when  counties  were  declared  in  a 
state  of  insurrection;  when  innocent  men  were  arrested 
without  warrant  by  military  cutthroats;  when  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  suspended  and  the  judiciary 
was  exhausted.  We  had  a  white  man  for  governor  in 
1898,  when  negroes  became  intolerably  insolent; 
when  ladies  were  insulted  on  the  public  streets;  when 
burglary  in  our  chief  city  became  an  every-night 
occurrence;  when  'sleep  lay  down  armed  and  the 
villainous  centre-bits  ground  on  the  wakeful  ear  in 
the  hush  of  the  moonless  nights' ;  when  more  guns  and 
pistols  were  sold  in  the  State  than  had  been  in  the 
twenty  preceding  years;  when  .  .  .  the  Governor 
and  our  two  Senators  were  afraid  to  speak  in  a  city 
of  25,000  inhabitants.  It  is  the  negro  behind  the 
officer,  and  not  the  officer  only,  that  constitutes  negro 
government." 

Such  was  the  situation  when  the  two  parties,  Demo- 
cratic and  Fusionist  —  for  in  state  politics  the  Populists 
&nd  Republicans  formed  for  the  time  but  one  party 


70  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

—  approached  the  campaign  preceding  the  election 
of  1898.  To  many  Democrats  the  situation  seemed 
hopeless.  But  on  May  12,  1898,  before  the  meeting 
of  the  Democratic  State  Convention,  Charles  B. 
Ay  cock  and  Mr.  Locke  Craig,  addressed  an  immense 
assemblage  of  people  at  Laurinburg,  and,  in  lan- 
guage that  thrilled  their  thousands  of  hearers, 
drew  a  graphic  picture  of  the  conditions  in  the  State, 
and,  appealing  to  the  white  people  of  North  Carolina 
to  forget  their  previous  differences,  called  upon  them 
to  unite  in  putting  an  end  to  a  situation  that  was  no 
longer  tolerable.  If  the  test  of  an  oration  be  its  effect 
upon  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed,  then  surely  no 
greater  political  orations  have  been  heard  in  North 
Carolina  than  those  of  Aycock  and  Craig  at  Laurin- 
burg. They  sounded  like  a  bugle  call  from  one  end 
of  North  Carolina  to  the  other.  They  convinced  the 
doubtful,  inspired  the  wavering,  and  fired  the  hearts 
of  the  faithful.  In  words  that  all  could  understand 
and  that  none  who  heard  them  could  ever  forget  they 
set  forth  the  issue  of  the  approaching  contest.  They 
aroused  a  quick  response  in  the  minds  of  thousands  who 
were  eagerly  looking  for  wise  leadership,  and  were 
accepted  by  the  Democratic  State  Convention  as  the 
keynote  of  the  campaign.  The  party  planted  itself 
squarely  on  the  single  issue  of  white  supremacy,  and 
determined  upon  a  vigorous  campaign  to  reunite  the 
white  people  of  the  State,  drive  the  Fusionists  from 
power,  and  reestablish  good  government  once  for  all 
in  North  Carolina. 

The  Fusionists  accepted  the  challenge.     Congress- 
man White,  the  most  prominent  of  the  negro  office- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  71 

holders  of  the  State,  struck  the  keynote  of  their  cam- 
paign when  in  a  speech  before  the  Republican  State 
Convention,  he  said:  "I  am  not  the  only  negro  whc 
holds  office.  There  are  others.  There  are  plenty  more 
being  made  to  order  to  hold  office.  We  don't  hold  as 
many  as  we  will.  The  Democrats  talk  about  the  color 
line  and  the  negro  holding  office.     I  invite  the  issue." 

Thus  the  issue  was  joined.  Thoughtful  Democrats 
frankly  acknowledged  that  it  was  an  appeal  to  race- 
prejudice,  recognized  all  the  evils  that  it  might  pro- 
duce by  arousing  the  worst  passions  of  both  races,  and 
admitted  that  it  was  full  of  danger.  But  these  were 
the  very  grounds  upon  which  they  justified  their 
course.  It  was  far  better,  they  declared,  to  face  the 
issue,  and  settle  it  once  for  all,  than  to  have  it  re- 
occurring  every  second  year  with  accumulated  force 
and  danger  each  time.  And  so  with  grim  determina- 
tion they  launched  their  campaign.  The  management 
of  the  campaign  was  entrusted  to  Mr.  F.  M.  Simmons; 
the  voice  of  the  party  was  Charles  B.  Ay  cock. 

Aycock's  services  were  in  demand  in  all  parts  of  the 
State  and  he  gave  them  without  stint.  During  the 
campaign  he  was  challenged  to  meet  Hon.  Cyrus 
Thompson,  Secretary  of  State  in  the  Fusion  Adminis- 
tration, in  joint  debate  at  Concord  and  at  Hood 
Swamp,  a  precinct  in  Wayne  County.  Mr.  F.  A. 
Daniels,  who  heard  the  debate  at  Hood  Swamp,  thus 
describes  it: 

"Doctor  Thompson  was  probably  the  best  furnished 
of  all  the  speakers  in  the  Populist  party.  He  had  wit 
in  abundance,  was  well  informed,  master  of  satire, 
quick    at    repartee;  he    was    a    dangerous    opponent 


72  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK 

But  Mr.  Ay  cock  was  tremendous.  If  there  was  a 
weapon  of  warfare  that  he  did  not  use  it  must  have 
been  obsolete.  There  was  not  a  joint  in  his  enemy's 
armor  that  he  did  not  find  and  pierce.  There  was  no 
argument  that  was  not  met,  no  wit  that  was  not 
matched,  no  invective  that  was  not  equaled.  His 
opening  was  full  of  matter  so  strongly  put  together 
that  it  was  unanswerable,  and  his  rejoinder  to  the 
inadequate  reply  was  crushing.  It  was  a  memorable 
occasion  and  one  that  will  never  be  forgotten  by  those 
who  witnessed  it." 

This  campaign  determined  Aycock's  position  as  the 
foremost  orator  of  his  generation  in  North  Carolina, 
and  fixed  upon  him  the  eyes  of  his  party  as  its  coming 
leader.  He  was  frequently  introduced  to  the  people 
as  "the  next  governor,"  and  they  understood  that  in 
the  event  of  Democratic  success  he  was  to  be  the 
leader  who  should  finish  the  work  of  1898  by  leading 
his  party  to  victory  in  1900.  For  as  the  day  of  elec- 
tion approached  no  one  doubted  that  Democratic 
success  would  lead  to  such  changes  in  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  State  as  would  eliminate  the  negro  from 
politics,  and  that  disfranchisement  of  the  negro  would 
be  the  chief  issue  in  the  next  campaign.  The  election 
resulted  in  giving  the  Democrats  control  of  both  houses 
of  the  Legislature.  They  interpreted  this  result  as  a 
command  from  the  people  that  they  prepare  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  that  would  make  white 
supremacy  in  North  Carolina  perpetual.  Accord- 
ingly such  an  amendment  was  prepared  and  submitted 
to  the  voters  for  ratification  at  the  general  election  of 
1900. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  SUFFRAGE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1900 

IN  THE  campaign  of  1900  but  one  issue  was  pre- 
sented to  the  people  —  i.e.,  the  Suffrage  Amend- 
ment submitted  by  the  Legislature  of  1899.  This 
Amendment  provided  an  educational  qualification  for 
suffrage,  from  which,  however,  were  excepted  all 
persons  who  were  entitled  to  vote  in  any  State  of  the 
Union  on  or  before  January  1,  1867,  and  their  lineal 
descendants;  provided  that  all  such  persons  should 
register  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  the 
Constitution  prior  to  December  1,  1908;  after  that 
date  the  educational  requirement  fell  equally  upon  all 
persons,  white  and  black  alike.  The  Amendment 
also  required  as  a  further  qualification  for  suffrage 
the  payment  of  a  poll  tax. 

Immediately  upon  the  adjournment  of  the  Legis- 
lature the  opponents  of  the  Amendment  began  to 
bombard  it  with  all  sorts  of  hard  questions  designed 
to  excite  uneasiness  and  apprehension  in  the  minds 
of  ill-informed  people.  Did  not  the  proposed  Amend- 
ment violate  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States?  Might  not  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  uphold  the  educational 
qualification  but  declare  the  "grandfather  clause" 
unconstitutional   and   void?     Would   the   State   ever 

73 


74  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

find  it  possible  to  provide  sufficient  educational 
facilities  to  enable  children  becoming  of  age  after  1908 
to  qualify  themselves  for  the  suffrage?  These  were 
serious  questions  that  had  to  be  answered  seriously, 
but  perhaps  they  were  less  dangerous  to  the  success 
of  the  Amendment  than  many  objections  of  a  less 
weighty  character.  It  was  urged  that  the  Amend- 
ment would  place  the  uneducated  many  under  the 
complete  domination  of  the  educated  few;  that  no 
illiterate  white  man  would  be  permitted  to  vote  be- 
cause he  would  never  be  able  to  prove  that  his  ancestors 
had  voted  before  1867;  that  any  man  who  should 
happen  to  lose  his  poll  tax  receipt  would  be  denied  the 
right  to  vote;  that  poor  boys  and  orphans  who  could 
not  afford  to  go  to  school  would  be  disfranchised. 
Industriously  circulated  among  the  people,  and  losing 
none  of  their  force  in  the  process,  these  objections 
raised  grave  doubts  in  the  minds  of  thousands  of 
voters  who  in  1898  had  voted  with  the  Democratic 
party  on  the  white  supremacy  issue,  and  at  first 
convinced  many  of  them  that  it  was  better  to  bear  the 
evils  which  they  knew  than  to  fly  to  those  which  they 
knew  not. 

The  Democratic  party,  though  fully  recognizing 
the  uncertainty  of  the  issue,  resolved  to  stake  its  future 
on  the  success  of  the  Amendment.  The  rank  and 
file,  as  well  as  the  party  leaders,  understood  the 
difficulty  of  their  task,  and  the  necessity  of  finding  a 
leader  who,  with  the  power  to  allay  the  apprehensions 
and  arouse  the  interest  of  the  people,  combined  the 
learning  and  ability  to  discuss  the  complex  constitu- 
tional questions  involved  with  a  clearness  and  simplicity 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  75 

that  all  could  understand.  Mr.  Theodore  F.  David- 
son of  Buncombe,  for  eight  years  Attorney-General 
of  the  State;  Mr.  John  S.  Cunningham  of  Person,  one 
of  the  largest  planters  in  North  Carolina,  who  had 
served  many  years  in  the  General  Assembly;  Mr.  M. 
H.  Justice  of  Rutherford,  an  experienced  legislator, 
prominent  among  the  leaders  of  the  Legislature  who 
had  drafted  the  proposed  Amendment,  were  strongly 
urged  for  the  nomination. 

But  since  the  campaign  of  1898  the  eyes  of  the  party 
had  been  fixed  upon  Charles  B.  Ay  cock  as  the  leader 
who  should  carry  the  work  begun  in  that  year  to  com- 
pletion in  1900.  His  supporters  urged  not  only  his 
great  party  service,  but  his  "preeminent  power  to 
convince  the  minds  of  men  and  to  arouse  their  highest 
and  best  emotions,  to  enthuse  them  with  the  truths 
of  his  cause  and  lead  them  to  action,"  which  he  had 
so  notably  demonstrated  in  the  campaigns  of  1892  and 
1898.  "The  Democratic  party,"  said  they,  "standing 
for  white  supremacy,  has  taken  in  hand  the  settlement 
of  the  one  question  which  has  obstructed  the  progress 
of  the  State  for  thirty  years  —  the  one  question  which 
has  been  a  source  of  anxious  thought  and  grave  appre- 
hension to  the  wisest  and  best  citizens  of  the  State. 
The  issue  is  made  up  and  submitted  to  the  decision  of 
the  people.  In  this  contest  we  have  foreshadowed  the 
character  and  intensity  of  the  opposition  to  be  met  and 
overcome.  The  men  of  eastern  North  Carolina,  who 
have  borne  their  burden  and  have  determined  with 
the  aid  of  the  men  of  the  mountains  to  bear  it  no  longer, 
are  deeply  interested  in  the  result  of  the  contest.  The 
men  of  the  centre  and  west,  entering  upon  the  de- 


76  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

velopment  of  their  great  and  rich  resources,  embarking 
in  great  industrial  enterprises,  using  their  own  and 
northern  capital,  are  as  deeply  interested  in  securing 
good  government  and  stable  conditions.  It  will  be 
well  that  the  man  who  is  to  hold  the  leadership  in  the 
great  argument,  the  appeal  to  the  white  men  of  North 
Carolina,  shall  come  from  the  section  wherein  the 
curse  and  blight  of  negro  domination  has  been  felt. 
None  can  tell  the  story  of  these  thirty  years  so  well  as 
he  who  has  seen  and  felt  the  conditions  from  which 
we  are  seeking  to  rid  ourselves." 

Such  reasoning,  coupled  with  the  recollections  of 
the  great  ability  which  Aycock  had  displayed  in 
former  campaigns,  appealed  to  the  judgment  of  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  party,  and  with  a  unanimity  rarely 
seen  in  political  affairs  they  turned  to  him  to  lead 
them  in  this  contest.  On  February  24th  the  Demo- 
cratic Convention  of  Wayne  County  instructed  its 
delegates  to  the  State  Convention  for  him,  and  during 
the  next  month  county  after  county  followed  the 
example.  The  other  candidates,  seeing  that  he  was 
the  undoubted  choice  of  the  party,  withdrew  from 
the  contest  and  pledged  their  support  to  him. 

The  Democratic  State  Convention,  which  met  in 
the  Academy  of  Music  at  Raleigh,  April  11th,  was  one 
long  to  be  remembered.  An  immense  crowd  thronged 
the  hall.  "There  was  not  a  foot  of  vacant  space. 
Every  seat  was  taken,  the  aisles  were  packed,  and  the 
boxes  and  rostrum  were  crowded  —  one  great,  cramped, 
cheering  mass  of  humanity."  "Such  a  call  of  the 
roll  of  the  counties,"  declared  Chairman  Simmons, 
"has  perhaps  never  before  occurred  in  the  history  of 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  77 

this  State.  It  shows  every  county  in  the  State  fully 
represented  by  duly  accredited  delegates."  No  body 
more  truly  representative  of  all  that  was  best  in  the  life 
of  the  State  ever  assembled  in  North  Carolina.  Every 
profession,  every  industry  was  there  represented  by 
its  strongest,  its  most  eminent  leaders,  all  inspired  by  a 
sincere  conviction  that  they  had  been  called  together 
to  perform  a  high  civic  duty  upon  which  depended  the 
future  happiness,  peace  and  prosperity  of  a  great 
State,  and  though  enthusiasm  abounded,  there  was 
nothing,  in  even  the  faintest  degree,  that  resembled 
the  disorder,  the  rowdyism,  the  demagoguery  which 
characterizes  so  many  similar  bodies.  An  air  of 
seriousness  and  determination  pervaded  the  whole  in 
keeping  with  the  greatness  of  the  occasion  and  the 
importance  of  the  work  to  be  done. 

Aycock's  name  was  presented  to  the  convention 
by  one  of  his  former  competitors,  Mr.  Justice. 
"Among  the  duties  of  this  convention,"  he  declared, 
"is  the  selection  of  a  fit  standard  bearer;  a  man  to 
place  at  the  head  of  the  ticket;  a  man  to  bear  the 
flag.  We  want  a  representative  white  man  —  a  leader 
of  men  —  a  brave  heart  and  a  clear  head;  one  who 
will  go  into  the  hottest  of  the  fight,  and  in  the  forefront 
of  the  battle,  and  inspire  confidence  in  his  followers. 
During  the  Civil  War,"  said  he,  "a  regiment  was 
charging  the  enemy's  works,  when  suddenly  the  fine 
wavered,  and  along  it  passed  the  human  shiver  and 
chill  that  meant  a  break.  The  color  bearer  had  seen 
battles  before  and  knew  the  symptom,  he  sprang 
forward  with  the  battle  flag,  and  rushed  toward  the 
enemy's  line.     The  colonel,  seeing  the  danger,  made  a 


78  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

trumpet  of  his  hands  and  called,  'Sergeant,  bring  the 
colors  back  to  the  men.'  The  Sergeant  hugged  the 
old  scarred  flagstaff  to  his  bosom  and  cried,  '  Colo- 
nel bring  the  men  up  to  the  colors!'  Mr.  President 
and  Gentlemen,  I  shall  name  you  a  leader  like 
that!"  And  amid  a  storm  of  tumultous  cheers  he 
presented  Aycock's  name.  A  motion  to  nominate 
him  by  acclamation  was  received  with  one  prolonged 
"Aye." 

Coming  forward  to  signify  his  acceptance  of  the 
nomination,  Aycock  was  received  by  the  delegates, 
writes  a  witness  of  the  scene,  "standing  and  cheering 
like  Apache  Indians.  The  applause  and  cheers  swelled 
and  burst  and  swelled  again  and  would  not  cease  until 
the  band  struck  up  'Dixie.' "  His  speech  of  acceptance 
was  worthy  of  the  man  and  the  occasion.  In  language 
that  sunk  deep  into  the  consciousness  of  his  hearers, 
he  explained  the  issues  involved  in  the  approaching 
contest  and  struck  the  keynote  of  his  party's  campaign. 
No  person  of  intelligence  and  sensibility  can  rise  from 
a  perusal  of  this  speech  (elsewhere  printed  in  this 
volume)  without  sincere  admiration  not  merely  for 
the  ability,  but  also  for  the  patriotism  with  which  it 
lifted  a  contest  that  involved  all  the  dangers  of  an 
appeal  to  race-prejudice  and  passion,  to  a  plane  of 
high  and  genuine  statesmanship  seeking  only  the 
ultimate  good  of  both  races. 

Aycock's  colleagues  on  the  State  ticket  were  W.  D. 
Turner  of  Iredell,  for  lieutenant-governor;  J.  Bryan 
Grimes  of  Pitt,  for  secretary  of  state;  B.  R.  Lacy  of 
Wake,  for  treasurer;  B.  F.  Dixon  of  Cleveland,  for 
auditor;  R.   D.    Gilmer   of  Haywood,   for   attorney- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  79 

general;  and  T.  F.  Toon  of  Robeson,  for  superinten- 
dent of  public  instruction. 

Both  the  Republican  and  the  Populist  parties 
nominated  full  State  tickets,  but  before  the  campaign 
was  fairly  opened  their  leaders  agreed  on  a  basis  of 
fusion  by  whom  Dr.  Cyrus  Thompson,  the  Populist 
nominee  for  governor,  was  retired  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Spencer  B.  Adams,  the  Republican  nominee,  and  the 
other  places  on  the  ticket  were  distributed  among  the 
several  nominees  of  the  two  parties. 

The  outlook  for  the  Democratic  party  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  campaign  was  discouraging.  The  Demo- 
cratic leaders  observed  with  alarm  that  their  oponents 
had  made  considerable  headway  in  their  fight  on  the 
Amendment,  and  realized  that  a  long  campaign  of 
education  was  necessary  for  their  success.  The  three 
months  preceding  the  State  Convention,  therefore, 
were  devoted  to  the  work  of  organizing  such  an  edu- 
cational campaign.  When  the  State  Convention  met 
in  April  these  arrangements  had  been  completed  and 
the  situation  began  to  look  more  hopeful.  But  imme- 
diately after  the  adjournment  of  the  convention  the 
party  leaders  found  themselves  confronted  by  a  new 
and  unexpected  danger.  The  very  success  cf  the 
convention  and  the  enthusaism  it  had  aroused  in  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  Democratic  party,  declares  Chair- 
man  Simmons,  had  inspired  "a  feeling  of  over- 
confidence  on  the  part  of  the  Democrats  not  justified 
by  the  situation.  As  a  result,  nearly  three  weeks 
after  the  adjournment  of  the  convention  but  little 
headway  was  made  in  the  campaign,  and  the  tide 
began  to  set  alarmingly  against  us."     To  counteract 


80  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

this  tendency  hundreds  of  thousands  of  personal  letters, 
documents  and  papers  were  mailed  from  the  Democratic 
headquarters  directly  to  voters  in  order  to  prepare 
them  "to  hear  with  interest,  and  understandingly, 
the  great  campaign  of  argument  which  was  to  be  made 
from  the  stump." 

This  campaign  from  the  stump  was  planned  and 
executed  with  great  skill,  and  in  every  respect  sur- 
passed all  other  campaigns  in  the  history  of  North 
Carolina.  A  unique  and  successful  feature  was  a 
tour  of  the  eastern  counties  made  by  all  the  candidates 
together.  At  first  the  crowds  which  heard  them  were 
small,  but  as  interest  grew,  they  rapidly  increased,  and 
before  the  campaign  closed  Democratic  speakers  be- 
came used  to  addressing  audiences  estimated  from 
5,000  upward.  A  notable  feature  of  these  gatherings 
was  the  large  number  of  women  who  attended  and  the 
deep  interest  which  they  everywhere  displayed.  The 
fact  that  with  practical  unanimity  they  favored  the 
Amendment  told  powerfully  in  its  behalf.  A  general 
review  of  the  campaign  after  the  lapse  of  twelve 
years  inclines  one  to  concur  with  the  statement  of 
Chairman  Simmons:  "Never  before  in  North  Carolina 
has  such  an  army  of  great  campaign  orators  appeared 
on  the  stump,  never  before  were  such  crowds  assembled 
in  the  State  to  hear  political  speeches,  and  never  be- 
fore were  speeches  as  effective  in  winning  votes  and 
moulding  public  opinion." 

Of  all  the  orators  who  participated  in  this  campaign 
none  was  heard  so  eagerly  as  the  Democratic  candidate 
for  governor.  The  people  enjoyed  his  unfailing  good 
humor,  applauded  his  frankness  and  courage,  appre- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  81 

dated  his  fairness,  and  trusted  his  sincerity.  It  is 
unnecessary  here  to  follow  in  detail  his  line  of  argument 
on  the  various  questions  presented  by  the  Amendment. 
They  can  be  read  in  his  own  words  in  his  Speech  of 
Acceptance  and  in  his  Inaugural  Address.  In  his 
first  speech  after  his  nomination,  delivered  at  Bur- 
lington, April  16th,  he  stated  that  the  campaign 
presented  but  one  issue —  "the  negro  question." 

"For  years,"  said  he,  "the  Democratic  party  has 
been  fighting  this  issue  until  at  last  it  has  made  up 
its  mind  that  it  must  be  settled,  and  settled  once  for 
all.  We  are  going  to  win  this  fight,  and  we  want  to 
win  it  with  practical  unanimity.  I've  sort  of  got 
used  to  the  unanimous  way  of  doing  business,  and  I'm 
in  favor  of  it." 

He  made  no  effort  to  conceal  the  real  purpose  of  the 
Amendment,  to  explain  it  away,  or  to  apologize  for 
it,  but  frankly  declared: 

"This  amendment  was  drawn  with  great  skill.  It 
was  drawn  after  long  thought,  and  with  full  knowledge 
of  the  end  to  be  attained.  It  was  drawn  with  the 
deliberate  purpose  of  depriving  the  negro  of  the  right 
to  vote,  and  of  allowing  every  white  man  to  retain  that 
right.  And  I  tell  you  now  and  here,  did  I  believe  that 
it  would  cause  the  oppression  of  a  single  man,  or  deprive 
one  white  man,  however  ignorant  or  humble,  of  his 
suffrage,  I  would  not  support  it.  On  the  contrary 
its  passage  will  mean  peace  to  the  land,  it  will  mean  an 
end  to  an  era  of  crime  and  lawlessness,  security  to 
property  and  purity  of  politics.  There  will  be  no 
more  dead  negroes  on  the  streets  of  Wilmington,  no 
more  rule  of  the  incompetent  and  corrupt." 


82  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Though  he  never  minced  his  words  when  describing 
the  conditions  which  negro  rule  had  produced,  his 
bearing  toward  his  political  opponents  was  such  that 
thousands  who  had  been  taught  to  fear  and  hate  him 
were  completely  won  by  his  courtesy  and  fairness. 
Speaking  at  Waynesville  to  an  audience  in  which  were 
a  large  number  of  Republicans,  he  said: 

"I  shall  speak  the  Democratic  doctrine  with  all 
earnestness  and  yet  with  forbearance.  No  man  shall 
go  away  saying  that  the  candidate  for  governor  of  the 
great  State  of  North  Carolina  abused  him  for  his 
political  faith." 

And  two  days  later  at  Shelby,  he  said: 

"I  do  not  believe  the  Fusionists  intended  to  give  us 
bad  government;  they  simply  could  not  help  it.  I 
assert  that  such  a  condition  with  them  is  inevitable 
because  the  party  has  not  behind  it  virtue  and  intelli- 
gence, but  it  has  the  evil  influence  of  120,000  negro 
voters.  No  government  can  be  better  or  wiser  than 
the  average  of  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  party 
that  governs." 

That  he  felt  no  hostility  toward  the  negro,  as  such, 
no  one  can  doubt  who  reads  that  passage  in  his  Speech 
of  Acceptance,  which  he  often  repeated  on  the  stump, 
in  which  he  said: 

"May  the  era  of  good  feeling  among  us  be  the  out- 
come of  this  contest.  Then  we  shall  learn,  if  we  do 
not  already  know,  that  while  universal  suffrage  is  a 
failure,  universal  justice  is  the  perpetual  decree  of 
Almighty  God,  and  that  we  are  entrusted  with  power 
not  for  our  good  alone,  but  for  the  negro  as  well.     We 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  83 

hold  our  title  to  power  by  the  tenure  of  service  to  God, 
and  if  we  fail  to  administer  equal  and  exact  justice 
to  the  negro  whom  we  deprive  of  suffrage,  we  shall  in 
the  fulness  of  time  lose  power  ourselves,  for  we  must 
know  that  the  God  who  is  Love  trusts  no  people  with 
authority  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  them  to  do 
injustice  to  the  weak." 

He  justified  the  "grandfather  clause,"  which  ad- 
mitted to  the  suffrage  illiterate  white  men  while  ex- 
cluding illiterate  negroes,  on  the  ground  that  the 
former  possessed  through  inheritance  qualifications 
to  which  the  latter  had  no  claim.     Said  he : 

"It  is  admitted  that  an  educational  qualification 
may  be  required.  What  sort  of  education?  Does 
this  necessarily  mean  book-learning,  ability  to  read 
and  write,  or  does  it  go  further  and  extend  to  that 
education  tendency,  instinct,  whatever  you  may  call 
it,  which  we  get  from  our  fathers  and  mothers  by  in- 
heritance as  applied  to  government,  that  facility  for 
understanding  public  questions  which  has  character- 
ized the  white  man  for  ages?  Does  any  human  being 
doubt  that  the  English  barons,  who  wrested  Magna 
Carta  from  King  John  at  Runnymede,  were  more 
capable  of  self-government  than  any  equal  number  of 
uneducated  negroes  that  ever  lived  on  the  globe?  Not 
one  of  those  glorious  old  heroes  of  liberty  could  write 
his  name  —  indeed,  they  had  great  contempt  for  any 
person  other  than  a  clergyman  who  could  do  so. 
.  .  .  Those  who  have  experienced  the  suffrage  for 
a  long  time  and  their  descendants  possess  an  education 
in  government  certainly  as  great  as  those  who  can 
merely  read  and  write.' 

Nevertheless  he  did  not  believe  that  the  white  people 
of  the  State  should  be  encouraged  to  rest  satisfied 
with  their  qualification  by  inheritance. 


84  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

"We  recognize  and  provide,"  said  he,  "for  the  God- 
given  and  hereditary  superiority  of  the  white  man  and 
of  all  white  children  now  thirteen  years  of  age,  hut 
for  the  future  as  to  all  under  thirteen  we  call  on  them 
to  assert  that  superiority  of  which  we  boast  by  learning 
to  read  and  write.  The  schools  are  open  and  will  be 
for  four  or  more  months  every  year  from  now  to  1908. 
The  white  child  under  thirteen  who  will  not  learn  to 
read  and  write  in  the  next  eight  years  will  be  without 
excuse." 

To  many  Democrats,  however,  and  to  their  oppon- 
ents also,  that  section  of  the  Amendment  which  limited 
the  right  to  vote  under  the  "grandfather  clause"  to  a 
period  of  years,  seemed,  for  campaign  purposes,  the 
weakest  point  in  its  armor;  and  while  the  latter  laid 
great  stress  on  this  provision  in  their  opposition,  many 
of  the  former  were  disposed  to  relegate  it  as  much  as 
possible  to  the  background  and  to  say  as  little  as 
possible  about  it  in  their  speeches  from  the  stump. 
Aycock  was  not  of  this  number.  To  the  convention 
which  nominated  him,  he  had  unreservedly,  even 
enthusiastically,  endorsed  this  section.  "I  tell  you," 
he  exclaimed,  "that  the  prosperity  and  the  glory  of 
our  grand  old  State  are  to  be  more  advanced  by  this 
clause  than  by  any  other  one  thing."  He  advised  his 
party  not  to  falter  or  to  waver  in  its  advocacy  of  this 
provision;  while  he  himself  derived  more  pleasure 
from  discussing  it  than  any  other  section  of  the  Amend- 
ment.    Said  he: 

"The  man  who  seeks  in  the  face  of  these  provisions 
to  encourage  illiteracy  is  a  public  enemy  and  deserves 
the  contempt  of  all  mankind.  .  .  .  Gentlemen  of 
the   convention,  this  clause  of  our  Amendment  does 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  85 

not  weaken  but  strengthens  it.  In  your  speeches  to 
the  people,  in  your  talks  with  them  on  the  streets  and 
farms  and  by  the  firesides,  do  not  hesitate  to  discuss 
this  section.  .  .  .  Speak  the  truth,  'tell  it  in  Gath, 
publish  it  in  the  streets  of  Askalon'  that  universal 
education  of  the  white  children  of  North  Carolina 
will  send  us  forward  with  a  bound  in  the  race  with  the 
world.  .  .  .  With  the  adoption  of  our  Amend- 
ment after  1908  there  will  be  no  State  in  the  Union 
with  a  larger  percentage  of  boys  and  girls  who  can 
read  and  write  and  no  State  will  rush  forward  with 
more  celerity  or  certainty  than  conservative  old  North 
Carolina.  The  miserable  demagogue  who  seeks  to 
perpetuate  illiteracy  in  the  State  will  then  have  happily 
passed  forever." 

To  the  crowds  which  thronged  to  hear  him  in  all 
parts  of  the  State,  he  said: 

"If  you  vote  for  me,  I  want  you  to  do  so  with  the 
distinct  understanding  that  I  shall  devote  the  four 
years  of  my  official  term  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  public 
schools  of  North  Carolina.  I  shall  endeavor  for  every 
child  in  the  State  to  get  an  education." 

The  newspaper  correspondents  who  accompanied 
him  on  his  campaigns  invariably  wrote  to  their  papers 
that  wherever  this  pledge  was  given,  it  was  received 
with  "long  and  continued  applause." 

But  as  the  campaign  progressed,  the  opposition  made 
such  effective  use  of  this  section  of  the  Amendment 
that  a  large  number  of  Democrats  became  apprehen- 
sive of  carrying  the  State;  and  some  of  the  more  timid 
began  an  agitation  to  have  it  stricken  out  at  the  special 
session  of  the  Legislature  in  June.  Aycock  was  then 
in  the  very  midst  of  his  campaign  in  the  western  part 


86  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

of  the  State  where  he  was  devoting  much  of  his  dis- 
cussion to  advocating  it.  When  he  learned  of  the 
movement  to  have  it  struck  out  he  promptly  declared 
his  opposition  to  such  a  course  in  terms  that  could  not 
be  misunderstood.  He  had  accepted  the  nomination, 
he  asserted,  with  the  understanding  that  the  Demo- 
cratic platform  was  a  solemn  pledge  to  the  people  that 
the  Amendment  would  be  submitted  to  them  as 
adopted  by  the  Legislature;  he  had  so  stated  on  a 
hundred  platforms  during  the  campaign,  and  had 
staked  his  own  honor  upon  the  good  faith  of  his  party; 
and  he  now  declared  that  if  his  party  should  repudiate 
its  pledge  by  making  the  proposed  change  in  the 
Amendment,  he  would  withdraw  from  the  campaign, 
resign  his  candidacy,  and  go  home.  His  bold  and 
determined  stand  dealt  the  movement  its  death 
blow 

It  was  estimated  that  in  the  course  of  his  campaign, 
Ay  cock  made  110  speeches,  traveled  1,000  miles  by 
carriage,  and  5,000  by  rail,  and  addressed  as  many  as 
100,000  people.  His  speeches  were  vote-winners.  It 
is  probably  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  never  before 
in  the  history  of  North  Carolina  did  political  speeches 
influence  so  many  votes.  Aycock  had  begun  his  cam- 
paign under  inauspicious  circumstances,  fully  appre- 
ciating the  difficulty  of  the  task  before  him.  He  real- 
ized that  he  was  the  advocate  of  a  radical  change  in  the 
organic  law  of  the  State  and  that  the  burden  of  proof 
accordingly  rested  upon  him.  He  knew,  no  man 
better,  the  conservative  character  of  the  people  of 
North  Carolina  and  the  hesitancy  with  which  they 
leave  the  well-trodden  paths  of  the  fathers. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  87 

"The  North  Carolina  people  are  conservative,"  he 
said.  "They  do  not  like  change.  They  endure  for  a 
long  time  unpleasant  and  evil  things  rather  than  make 
the  effort  to  throw  them  off.  They  would  not  to-day 
change  their  organic  law  if  there  was  any  other  course 
open  to  them.  But  thirty  years  of  experience  has 
satisfied  them  that  the  highest  interest  of  the  State 
demands  a  change." 

It  was  a  change  easily  misrepresented,  easily  mis- 
understood, and  well  calculated  to  arouse  apprehension 
in  the  minds  of  thousands  of  voters.  That  it  would 
accomplish  its  object  no  one  doubted;  what  people 
feared  was  that  it  would  accomplish  more  than  its 
object,  and  it  was  difficult  to  convince  them  that  it 
would  not  do  so.  It  involved  an  acute  race  question 
which  everybody  realized  to  be  full  of  danger.  Not 
the  least  merit  of  Aycock's  speeches  was  that  they 
reduced  this  danger  to  a  minimum.  He  made  no  ap- 
peal to  race  prejudice;  indeed,  his  Speech  of  Acceptance 
had  made  such  an  appeal  impossible.  He  spoke  to 
the  people  in  behalf  of  good  government,  and  he  under- 
took to  convince  them  that  the  cause  of  good  govern- 
ment was  involved  in  the  success  of  the  Amendment 
which  he  advocated.  His  appeal  was  triumphantly 
successful,  for  not  only  did  he  hold  in  line  the  doubtful 
and  wavering  of  his  own  party,  but  the  evident  sin- 
cerity of  his  faith  in  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  his 
cause  and  his  convincing  arguments  won  the  votes  of 
thousands  of  Republicans. 

An  incident  illustrative  of  the  impression  which  he 
made  upon  open-minded  men  occurred  at  Lenoir,  where 
he  spoke  June  13th.     Among  those  who  heard  him  that 


88  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

day  was  J.  A.  Crisp,  Chairman  of  the  Republican 
County  Executive  Committee  and  Republican  nominee 
for  the  Legislature.  After  the  speaking,  according  to 
his  own  statement,  Mr.  Crisp  declared  in  the  presence 
of  a  number  of  Democrats  that  he  was  as  much  in  favor 
of  white  supremacy  as  any  of  them,  and  if  Ay  cock  would 
make  affidavit  before  the  Clerk  of  the  Court  that  no 
white  man  would  be  deprived  of  his  vote  by  the  Amend- 
ment, he  would  support  and  vote  for  it.  Ay  cock 
promptly  accepted  the  challenge,  sent  for  Crisp,  and 
made  the  desired  affidavit.  In  it  he  declared  that  he 
had  "carefully  examined  and  studied  the  proposed 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  North 
Carolina,  and  that  he  not  only  believes,  but  is  entirely 
confident  that  no  white  man  born  in  the  United  States 
will  be  disfranchised  thereby,  provided  that  he  registers 
at  any  time  prior  to  1908."  Mr.  Crisp  thereupon 
signed  an  obligation  to  vote  for  it.  He  was  not  the  only 
Republican  whom  Aycock's  earnestness  and  eloquence 
convinced,  though  others  required  no  such  solemn 
method  of  testing  his  sincerity.  It  was  observed  that 
after  his  speech  at  Lenoir,  as  well  as  at  other  places,  a 
considerable  number  of  Republicans  went  home  wearing 
white  supremacy  buttons. 

The  truth  is,  the  campaign  of  which  Aycock  was  the 
leader  had  created  a  revolution  in  the  State  far  more 
widespread  than  even  the  most  sanguine  of  the  Demo- 
cratic leaders  realized.  Only  six  days  before  the  elec- 
tion, the  News  and  Observer,  never  overly  conserva- 
tive in  preelection  prophecies,  editorially  predicted  a 
majority  for  the  Amendment  of  30,000.  The  election, 
held  August  2d,  gave  it  a  majority  of  53,932.    Sixty-six 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  89 

of  the  ninety-seven  counties  gave  majorities  for  the 
Amendment.  Aycock  himself  proved  stronger  than 
his  cause.  He  carried  seventy-four  of  the  ninety-seven 
counties,  and  was  elected  governor  by  an  unprecedented 
majority  of  60,354.  The  total  votes  on  the  Amend- 
ment and  the  governorship  were  as  follows:  for  the 
Amendment,  182,217,  against  the  Amendment,  128,285; 
for  Aycock,  186,650,  for  Adams,  126,296.  Aycock's 
majority  was  the  largest  ever  received  by  any  man  in 
the  history  of  North  Carolina  for  the  office  of  governor. 


CHAPTER  VII 

A    PROGRESSIVE   ADMINISTRATION 

AYCOCK'S  administration  began  "under  extra- 
ordinary circumstances."  Said  he,  "One  party 
L  goes  out  of  power  and  another  comes  in;  one 
policy  ends  and  a  new  one  begins;  one  century  passes 
away  and  a  new  century  claims  our  attention;  a  new 
constitution  greets  the  new  century." 

The  changes  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  State  fol- 
lowed the  bitterest  contest  in  its  history.  The  two 
races  had  been  arrayed  in  fearful  antagonism  and  the 
elemental  passions  of  both  had  been  deeply  stirred. 
The  fires  of  race  prejudice  and  bitterness  still  smoul- 
dered in  the  hearts  of  thousands  and  but  the  slightest 
breath  was  necessary  to  fan  them  into  a  conflagration 
of  fearful  consequences.  It  was  a  situation  which  re- 
quired a  leader  with  a  cool  head,  a  clear  vision,  and  a 
judicious  temperament.  He  must  have  an  abundance 
of  patience,  wisdom  and  charity.  He  must  be  a 
courageous  man.  It  was  no  time  for  a  time-server. 
He  who  would  allay  the  apprehensions  of  the  negroes 
and  check  the  passions  of  the  whites  must  be  a  states- 
man. 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  cause  of  civilization  through- 
out the  South  that  in  her  new  governor  North  Carolina 
had  found  such  a  leader.    Aycock  had  made  the  fight 

90 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  91 

for  the  Amendment  in  no  spirit  of  enmity  to  the  negro. 
His  only  purpose  was  to  secure  good  government, 
peace  and  prosperity  for  all  the  citizens  of  the  State. 
After  the  fight  was  won,  he  declared  that  the  time  had 
come  when  the  negro  should  be  made  to  realize  that 
while  he  would  not  be  permitted  to  govern,  his  rights 
should  be  held  all  the  more  sacred  on  that  account. 
He  knew  perhaps  better  than  any  other  man  how  the 
passions  of  the  whites  had  been  aroused,  and  he  realized 
that  they  were  in  danger  of  going  too  far.  He  appre- 
ciated, too,  the  peril  of  antagonizing  the  dominant 
thought  in  the  State,  but  he  believed  that  the  people 
who  had  chosen  him  governor  did  so  with  the  hope  that 
he  would  be  brave  enough  to  sacrifice  his  own  popu- 
larity, his  own  future,  if  need  be,  to  the  speaking  of 
the  rightful  word  and  the  doing  of  the  generous  act; 
and  he  appealed  to  the  white  people  of  the  State  to 
realize  that  a  situation  confronted  them  that  demanded 
statesmanship,  not  passion  and  prejudice. 

Such  was  the  spirit  with  which  on  January  15,  1901, 
he  took  the  oath  of  office.  His  Inaugural  Address  was 
a  fitting  supplement  to  his  Speech  of  Acceptance.  In 
it  he  reviewed  the  conditions  under  which  his  party 
had  come  into  power;  he  defended  its  position  on  the 
negro  question;  and  forecast  the  effects  of  the  Suffrage 
Amendment.  He  renewed  his  campaign  pledge  on 
education,  declared  for  a  more  just  assessment  of 
property  for  the  purposes  of  taxation,  demanded  the 
passage  of  a  fair  election  law,  stated  his  determination 
to  suppress  lawlessness  whether  of  individuals  or  of 
mobs,  appealed  for  a  just  and  humane  policy  toward  the 
negro  race,  expressed  the  hope  that  the  new  conditions 


92  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

would  bring  with  them  "freedom  of  thought,  of  criti- 
cism and  of  action,"  and  closed  with  a  statement  of 
the  ideals  which  would  guide  him  in  the  performance 
of  his  duties  as  governor.     Said  he: 

"I  have  been  elected  as  a  Democrat.  I  shall  ad- 
minister the  high  office  to  which  I  have  been  called  in 
accordance  with  the  policies  and  principles  of  that 
great  party,  but  I  wish  it  distinctly  understood  that  I 
shall  strive  to  be  a  just  governor  of  all  the  people,  with- 
out regard  to  party,  color  or  creed.  The  law  will  be 
enforced  with  impartiality  and  no  man's  petition  shall 
go  unheard  because  he  differs  from  me  in  politics  or  in 
color.  My  obligation  is  to  the  State,  and  the  State  is 
all  her  citizens.  No  man  is  so  high  that  the  law  shall 
not  be  enforced  against  him,  and  no  man  is  so  low  that 
it  shall  not  reach  down  to  him  to  lift  him  up  if  may  be 
and  set  him  on  his  feet  again  and  bid  him  Godspeed 
to  better  things." 

In  his  speech  to  the  Democratic  Convention  of  1904, 
in  which  he  reviewed  the  work  of  his  administration, 
Aycock  said: 

"In  speaking  of  the  work  of  the  past  administration 
I  shall  frequently  use  the  personal  pronoun  '  I '  —  not 
from  any  desire  to  appropriate  the  work  done,  nor,  I 
trust,  from  any  sense  of  vanity,  but  because  of  con- 
venience of  expression.  I  wish  to  say  in  the  beginning 
that  the  work  done  has  not  been  mine.  Whatever 
good  has  been  accomplished  has  had  the  whole  body  of 
the  people  behind  it,  and  has  had  to  execute  it  the 
united  force  of  the  able,  honorable,  conscientious  men 
with  whom  I  have  had  the  honor  to  be  associated." 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  follow  Aycock's  example. 
In  referring  to  his  work  we  mean  the  work  of  the  ad- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  93 

ministration  of  which  he  was  the  head.  His  Council 
of  State  was  composed  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  J. 
Bryan  Grimes;  the  Treasurer,  Benjamin  R.  Lacy;  the 
Auditor,  Benjamin  F.  Dixon;  and  the  Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction,  Thomas  F.  Toon,  till  February, 
1902,  after  that  date,  James  Y.  Joyner.  The  Attorney- 
General,  Robert  D.  Gilmer,  was  the  legal  adviser  of  the 
Council. 

Aycock  came  into  office  on  a  platform  pledged  to  a 
policy  of  more  liberal  pensions  to  Confederate  soldiers, 
of  increased  facilities  for  the  care  of  the  insane,  for  the 
education  of  the  blind  and  the  deaf,  for  the  State's 
higher  institutions  of  learning,  and  of  general  improve- 
ment of  the  public  school  system.  He  advocated  more 
generous  support  also  of  the  boards  of  health,  of  public 
charities,  of  the  geological  survey,  and  of  other  boards 
and  commissions,  the  building  of  public  roads,  the 
enactment  of  effective  child  labor  legislation,  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  reformatory  for  youthful  criminals,  and 
other  progressive  measures.  Indeed,  his  administra- 
tion stood  for  a  general  advance  along  the  whole  line 
of  public  activity. 

Aycock  realized,  of  course,  that  these  things  would 
require  a  revenue  considerably  larger  than  the  State 
was  then  receiving.  He  had  made  no  false  promises 
of  retrenchment  in  appropriations  or  reduction  of  taxes; 
on  the  contrary,  he  had  declared  all  along  that  expen- 
ditures would  be  increased  and  that  his  administration 
would  spend  all  the  money  that  could  be  raised  by  a 
fair  assessment  of  property  and  just  taxation.  To 
raise  the  revenue  needed  for  his  policies  was  the  most 
pressing  problem  confronting  his  administration  at  its 


94  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

beginning.  His  predecessor  had  bequeathed  to  him  a 
deficit  in  the  treasury.  He  had  found  the  penitentiary 
in  debt.  A  large  percentage  of  the  property  in  the 
State  was  escaping  any  taxation,  and  all  was  under- 
valued on  the  tax  books.  To  get  this  property  on  the 
tax  books  at  something  like  its  true  value,  to  levy  on 
it  a  tax  sufficient  to  produce  the  needed  revenue  and 
yet  not  so  burdensome  as  to  retard  the  industrial  de- 
velopment which  Aycock  had  predicted  and  promised, 
was  a  difficult  task.  He  declared,  however,  that  it 
must  be  done. 

"If  more  taxes  are  required,"  said  he,  "more  taxes 
must  be  levied.  If  property  has  escaped  taxation  here- 
tofore which  ought  to  have  been  taxed,  means  must  be 
devised  by  which  that  property  can  be  reached  and  put 
upon  the  tax  list.  I  rejoice  in  prosperity  and  take  de- 
light in  the  material  progress  of  the  State.  I  would 
cripple  no  industry;  I  would  retard  the  growth  of  no 
enterprise;  but  I  would  by  just  and  equal  laws  require 
from  every  owner  of  property  his  just  contribution,  to 
the  end  that  all  the  children  may  secure  the  right  to 
select  their  servants." 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  during  its  first  three  years 
Ay  cock's  administration  spent  for  education,  pensions, 
and  care  of  the  insane,  $1,208,228  more  than  his  pre- 
decessor spent  in  a  like  period,  and  for  other  purposes 
in  the  same  proportion,  he  succeeded  in  turning  his 
predecessor's  deficit  of  $177,000  into  a  surplus  of 
$339,000.  Under  his  administration  the  assessment  of 
railroad  property  was  more  than  doubled;  the  valuation 
of  bank  stocks  increased  in  like  proportion;  while  more 
than  $136,000,000  were  added  to  the  valuation  of  all 
property.    That  these  increases  crippled  no  industry, 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  95 

retarded  the  growth  of  no  enterprise,  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  gross  earnings  of  the  railroads  during  the 
same  period  increased  more  than  60  per  cent.,  and  the 
resources  of  the  banks  of  the  State  more  than  90  per 
cent.  The  increase  in  the  number  of  cotton  mills  was 
50  per  cent.,  of  spindles  75  per  cent.,  of  looms  84  per 
cent.,  and  of  capital  invested  in  cotton  manufactur- 
ing 75  per  cent.  During  the  three  years  immediately 
preceding  his  term  510  corporations,  with  a  combined 
capital  of  $13,000,000,  were  organized  in  the  State; 
during  the  first  three  years  of  his  administration  the 
corporations  organized  numbered  1,276,  and  the  com- 
bined capital  was  more  than  $100,000,000. 

In  his  speech  to  the  Democratic  Convention  of  1900, 
Aycock  predicted  as  a  result  of  eliminating  the  negro 
from  politics: 

"Industry  will  have  a  great  outburst.  We  shall  go 
forward  into  the  new  century  a  united  people,  striving 
in  zeal  and  in  generous  rivalry  for  the  material,  intel- 
lectual and  moral  upbuilding  of  the  State.  The  morn- 
ing of  the  new  century  calls.  There  is  work  to  be  done. 
Our  industries  are  to  be  multiplied,  our  commerce 
increased." 

In  his  speech  to  the  Democratic  Convention  of  1904 
he  was  able  to  point  to  the  fulfilment  of  his  prediction: 

"The  people  have  found  industry  the  best  outlet  for 
their  superabundance  of  energy  and  they  are  bringing 
to  pass  a  wonderful  day  in  this  State.  Truly,  as  I 
predicted,  there  has  been  a  great  outburst  of  industry. 
In  1900  there  was  invested  in  cotton  mills  in  this  State 
$25,840,465;  since  then  $18,260,000  have  been  added  to 
the  investment.  Other  industries,  notably  the  manu- 
facture of  furniture  and  other  articles  of  wood,  have 


96  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

fully  kept  pace  with,  if  not  outstript,  that  of  cotton  man- 
ufacturing. Agriculture  has  had  a  wonderful  growth. 
Cotton  has  again  become  king.  Large  portions  of  the 
East  have  been  converted  into  market  gardens  for  the 
populous  cities  of  the  North.  Men  feel  secure  in  their 
property.  This  feeling  of  security  covers  the  State. 
This  wonderful  investment  of  capital  in  large  business 
enterprises,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  our  tax  laws,  of 
our  assessments,  of  our  needs,  of  our  purpose  to  care 
for  the  weak  and  afflicted,  and  to  educate  the  young, 
proves  conclusively  that  the  business  men  of  North 
Carolina  realize  the  benefit  of  good  government  and  the 
profit  to  be  found  in  an  educated  people." 

The  purposes  to  which  the  greater  portion  of  the  in- 
creased revenue  of  the  government  was  devoted  were 
education,  pensions  for  Confederate  soldiers,  and  the 
care  of  the  insane.  Of  the  work  of  his  administration 
for  education  we  shall  speak  in  another  chapter. 

During  Aycock's  administration  pensions  for  Con- 
federate soldiers  were  increased  by  more  than  $200,000. 
Adverting  to  this  fact  in  his  last  message  to  the  General 
Assembly  he  declared: 

"Still  further  provision  remains  yet  to  be  made.  If 
in  your  wisdom,  you  can  see  your  way  clear  to  do  more 
than  this  I  shall  be  glad,  the  State  will  rejoice,  and  we 
shall  all  still  remain  in  debt  to  the  glorious  men  and 
women  who  made  history  for  us  from  1861  to  1865  in 
such  fashion  that  we  can  never  be  weak  nor  craven 
without  falling  away  from  the  high  estate  to  which 
they  raised  us." 

Reviewing  the  work  of  his  administration  for  the 
insane,  Aycock  said: 

"We  found  on  entering  office  that  there  were  hun- 
dreds of  insane  in  the  State  for  whom  provision  had 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  97 

not  been  made.  They  were  in  the  poorhouses,  in  jails,, 
in  homes  where  there  was  poverty  and  want.  Their  cry 
was  coming  up  from  all  parts  of  the  State;  a  sorrowful 
cry,  awakening  emotions  of  pity  and  forcing  every  true- 
hearted  man  to  seek  a  way  in  which  to  provide  for  them." 

His  administration  took  up  the  problem  with  great 
earnestness,  increased  the  expenditures  for  hospitals 
by  more  than  $200,000,  and  provided  for  the  care  of 
more  than  200  additional  patients.  But  Ay  cock  urged 
the  making  of  still  greater  efforts  to  provide  amply  for 
all  the  insane  of  the  State,  saying  to  the  Legislature: 

"The  Constitution  requires  it,  humanity  demands  it, 
and  the  platforms  of  all  parties  pledge  themselves  to 
accomplish  it.  The  State  is  able  to  bear  the  necessary 
burden  for  bringing  about  this  result  and  nothing 
short  of  its  accomplishment  will  satisfy  the  public  con- 
science." 

With  his  educational  policy  Aycock  coupled  a  policy 
to  curtail  the  liquor  traffic.  In  his  message  to  the 
General  Assembly  of  1903  he  recommended  "that  a 
general  law  be  passed  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  liquor  throughout  the  State  save  in  incorporated 
towns."  He  called  the  Legislature's  attention  to  the 
fact  that  more  than  two  thirds  of  the  counties  by  local 
acts  had  already  so  restricted  the  business. 

"No  good  reason,"  he  declared,  "is  apparent  why 
the  Legislature  should  not  in  all  the  counties  apply  the 
restriction  which  to-day  exists  in  more  than  two  thirds 
of  them.  This  should  be  done  for  the  reason  that  in 
the  country  there  is  no  police  supervision  of  the  con- 
duct of  the  business.  In  many  places  the  lawlessness 
due  to  this  business  has  driven  good  people  who  pre- 
ferred to  live  on  their  farms  into  towns  for  safety." 


98  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

He  thought  such  a  law  would  produce  good  results 
and  "meet  with  the  approval  of  the  best  citizens  of  the 
State."  His  recommendation  met  with  favor  and  a  law, 
known  as  the  Watts  Law,  in  line  with  his  suggestion, 
was  enacted.  The  Watts  Law  met  with  no  little  op- 
position and  hostile  criticism  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
a  discrimination  against  the  rural  sections.  In  reply 
to  such  criticism  Ay  cock  said: 

"We  have  entered  upon  an  educational  awakening 
in  this  State  which  is  seeking  not  only  to  open  the  door 
of  the  schoolhouse  to  every  child  but  to  persuade  and 
influence  every  child  to  enter  that  schoolhouse.  There 
are  men  who  have  seen  a  school  flourish  in  a  town  close 
by  a  barroom  or  still,  but  no  man  has  ever  yet  seen  a 
school  grow  up  and  prosper  by  the  side  of  a  whiskey 
still  or  a  barroom  in  the  country.  The  Legislature, 
therefore,  was  confronted  with  the  question  whether 
they  should  open  and  maintain  schoolhouses  in  the 
country  for  children,  or  whiskey  stills  and  bars  for  the 
men.  The  Legislature  made  its  choice  and  the  people 
will  ratify  it  at  the  polls.  In  my  judgment  this  act 
is  one  of  the  best  ever  passed  by  any  legislature.  The 
conditions  justified  it.  The  demands  of  the  people 
required  it  and  the  results  have  proven  beneficial. 
With  the  passing  of  the  years  it  will  be  found  to  have 
been  a  most  effective  agency  in  the  cause  of  temperance. 

This  policy  set  in  motion  by  the  Watts  Law  has  re- 
sulted in  putting  North  Carolina  in  the  column  of  pro- 
hibition states.  The  Legislature  of  1905  still  further  re- 
stricted the  liquor  traffic  by  the  passage  of  the  Ward  Law, 
confining  it  to  towns  of  more  than  one  thousand  inhabi- 
tants. In  1908,  the  General  Assembly,  in  special  session, 
submitted  to  the  people  the  question  of  state-wide  pro- 
hibition, which  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  44,196. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  99 

Aycock's  educational  policy,  his  attitude  toward  the 
negro,  his  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power,  his  efforts 
to  suppress  mob  violence  and  to  have  captured  and 
brought  to  punishment  men  who  engaged  in  lynching 
parties,  all  subjected  him  to  unsparing  criticism.  Of 
the  criticism  of  the  first  two  policies  mentioned  some- 
thing will  be  said  elsewhere.  Of  the  criticism  of  his 
exercise  of  the  pardoning  power  it  is  enough  to  say 
that  he  received  no  more  than  his  predecessors  and 
successors.  Every  governor  encounters  the  same 
experience  for  the  same  reason.  Thousands  of  con- 
victions for  which  no  executive  clemency  is  asked  es- 
cape public  notice;  pardons  and  commutations  refused 
attract  but  slight  attention,  but  those  granted  are 
widely  published,  commented  upon,  and  frequently 
condemned  by  those  who  are  ignorant  of  the  facts. 
All  this  leads  thoughtless  people  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  is  useless  for  juries  to  convict  simply  to  enable  the 
governor  to  pardon. 

Aycock  was  not  insensible  to  such  criticisms.  His 
sensibilities  were  too  keen  for  them  not  to  hurt.  He 
had  too  much  respect  for  public  opinion  to  meet  it  in  a 
spirit  of  contempt  and  defiance.  On  the  other  hand  he 
had  too  much  moral  courage  to  let  it  affect  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duty  when,  once  having  weighed  and  con- 
sidered any  question,  he  had  determined  upon  the  right 
course  to  pursue.     To  the  Legislature  of  1903  he  said : 

"I  have  decided  upon  the  merits  of  every  application 
in  obedience  to  my  sworn  obligation,  with  respect  for 
the  authority  of  the  law,  and  with  a  genuine  love  for 
humanity.  The  task  has  not  been  a  pleasant  one, 
but  I  have  found  more  cause  for  regret  in  the  pardons 


100  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

which  my  conscience  compelled  me  to  refuse  than  in 
the  pardons  and  commutations  granted.  I  have  not 
been  unmindful  of  the  criticism  of  my  action  in  regard 
to  this  matter,  but  I  have  been  unable  to  find  it  con- 
sistent with  my  duty  to  let  criticism  interfere  with  the 
highest  power  vested  in  me  by  the  Constitution 
of  the  State.  The  power  to  act  involves  a  duty,  and 
that  duty,  by  the  suffrage  of  the  people,  has  been  re- 
posed in  me.  I  should  be  unworthy  of  their  respect, 
and  too  cowardly  to  be  governor  of  so  good  and  just  a 
people  if,  in  fear  of  their  criticism,  I  should  let  one  man 
undergo  further  punishment  when  my  reason  and 
conscience  tell  me  he  has  been  sufficiently  punished. 
Punishment  is  for  the  reform  of  the  criminal  and  for 
example  to  others  disposed  to  offend  against  the  law. 
When  these  two  purposes  have  been  fulfilled,  suffering 
on  the  part  of  the  prisoner  becomes  injustice,  and  so 
long  as  I  remain  the  governor  of  this  State,  suffering 
shall  have  a  hearing  and  those  who  have  been  chastened 
sufficiently  shall  go  free." 

In  the  days  of  negro  rule  the  crime  for  which  mob 
law  is  usually  defended  was  so  frequent,  and  the  en- 
forcement of  the  criminal  law  so  lax,  that  many  citi- 
zens, otherwise  law-abiding,  were  led  either  to  condone 
or  but  slightly  to  deprecate  resort  to  lynch  law.  They 
succeeded  in  persuading  themselves  that  it  was  the  only 
way  in  which  the  criminal  instincts  of  the  negro,  en- 
couraged by  the  exercise  of  political  power,  could  be 
kept  under  curb.  One  of  the  reasons  urged  by  Aycock 
for  the  elimination  of  the  negro  from  politics  was  that 
it  would  lessen  crime  and  hasten  the  universal  reign  of 
law.  "The  law,"  he  said,  "must  have  full  sway.  The 
mob  has  no  place  in  our  civilization." 

But  the  passions  which  the  conflict  between  the  races 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  101 

had  aroused  were  not  to  be  suddenly  checked  or  im- 
mediately brought  under  control  in  either.  The  crime 
being  committed,  the  punishment  followed.  During 
the  first  two  years  of  Aycock's  administration  eight 
lynchings  occurred  in  the  State.  His  efforts  to  secure 
the  arrest  and  conviction  of  the  guilty  parties  resulted 
only  in  subjecting  him  to  cruel  criticism.  Twice  he 
experienced  the  bitter  humiliation  of  having  his 
requisitions  on  governors  of  other  states  delayed,  "be- 
cause of  the  assertion  that  the  prisoners,  if  returned  to 
this  State,  would  be  lynched."  Such  things  wounded 
his  pride  in  the  State  and  her  people. 

"It  ought  not  to  be  necessary,"  said  he  to  the 
Legislature,  "for  the  Governor  of  your  State  to  have  to 
accompany  his  requisition  with  an  assurance  that  the 
prisoner  will  not  be  lynched.  Our  character  as  a  law- 
abiding  people  .  .  .  ought  to  be  such  as  to  fur- 
nish a  guarantee  everywhere  of  a  fair  trial  for  any  pris- 
oner for  whom  requisition  is  asked  ...  I  cannot 
too  strongly  urge  on  your  Honorable  Body  the  duty  of 
devising  some  means  for  the  efficient,  certain  and 
speedy  trial  of  crimes,  and  at  the  same  time  to  make 
such  provision  as  will  protect  every  citizen,  however 
humble,  however  vicious,  however  guilty,  against  trial 
by  the  mob." 

Aycock's  efforts  to  suppress  mob  violence,  of  course, 
met  with  support  from  all  law-abiding,  patriotic  citizens, 
and  contributed  much  to  the  accomplishment  of  that 
end.  He  was  able  to  declare  in  his  last  message  to  the 
Legislature,  1905,  that  lynchings  had  become  much 
less  frequent  in  the  State  and  expressed  the  belief  that 
"we  are  close  to  the  time  when  lawlessness  shall  go 
from  among  us." 


102  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

"The  best  way  to  safeguard  society  is  for  good  people 
themselves  to  obey  the  law.  We  cannot  stop  crime  by 
committing  it;  we  cannot  teach  obedience  to  the  law 
by  disobeying  it;  we  cannot  preserve  order  by  the 
means  of  a  mob.  .  .  .  The  creating  of  better 
public  opinion,  the  passage  of  laws  making  more  effec- 
tive the  means  of  ascertaining  and  punishing  all  those 
participating  in  lynching,  speedy  trial  and  prompt 
punishment  of  criminals,  shall  all  be  invoked  until  we 
secure  for  ourselves  the  absolute  and  unquestioned 
reign  of  the  law." 

The  most  important  business  interests  of  Aycock's 
administration  were  the  penitentiary,  the  South  Dakota 
suit,  and  the  Atlantic  and  North  Carolina  Railroad. 
Of  his  management  of  the  penitentiary  it  is  sufficient 
to  say  that  while  under  his  predecessor  the  Legislature 
found  it  necessary  to  appropriate  more  than  $225,000 
out  of  the  State  treasury  for  its  support  and  yet  turned 
it  over  to  Aycock  in  debt,  under  his  administration  the 
institution  was  not  only  self-supporting,  but  turned  into 
the  State  treasury  a  considerable  revenue,  and  had  on 
hand  at  the  close  of  his  term  a  balance  of  $132,867. 

Something  more  than  this  must  be  said  of  the  South 
Dakota  suit.  This  was  a  suit  brought  by  the  State  of 
South  Dakota  against  the  State  of  North  Carolina  on 
ten  bonds  of  the  latter,  which  certain  brokers  in  New 
York  had  assigned  to  the  former  without  consideration, 
for  the  purpose  of  evading  the  Eleventh  Amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  seeking  there- 
by to  draw  into  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  other 
bonds  of  the  same  class  remaining  in  the  brokers' 
hands.  These  bonds  were  part  of  an  issue  of  1866  sold 
for  the  purpose  of  aiding  in  the  construction  of  the 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  103 

Western  North  Carolina  Railroad  and  secured  by  a 
second  mortgage  on  the  State's  stock  in  the  North 
Carolina  Railroad  Company.  Issued  immediately 
after  the  Civil  War,  when  the  credit  of  the  State  was 
low,  they  brought  prices  ranging  from  25  to  60  cents  on 
the  dollar.  In  1879  the  Legislature,  realizing  the  im- 
possibility of  the  State's  paying  all  of  its  obligations, 
passed  an  act  looking  to  the  commutation  and  settle- 
ment of  the  State  debt.  In  that  settlement  provision 
was  made  for  the  compromise  of  these  second  mort- 
gage bonds  at  25  cents  on  the  dollar.  All  the  bonds  were 
easily  adjusted  on  this  basis  except  two  hundred  and 
fifty  held  by  the  Schafer  Brothers  of  New  York,  who 
refused  to  accept  the  compromise  offered  by  the  State. 
In  1901  they  memorialized  the  Legislature  asking  for  a 
settlement,  but  the  Legislature  declined  to  take  any 
action.  Later  they  donated  ten  of  the  bonds  to  the 
State  of  South  Dakota,  and  on  October  7,  1901,  South 
Dakota  applied  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  for  permission  to  file  her  bill  of  complaint  against 
the  State  of  North  Carolina  in  order  to  enforce  the  pay- 
ment of  the  bonds.  Referring  to  this  action  Aycock, 
in  his  message  to  the  Legislature  of  1905,  said: 

"No  demand  had  ever  been  made  by  the  State  of 
South  Dakota  upon  this  State  for  the  payment  of  said 
bonds  so  donated  to  her,  and  the  first  information  I  had 
of  the  purpose  of  the  said  State  to  sue  this  State  was 
notice  in  the  newspapers  of  the  country  that  applica- 
tion had  been  made  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  for  permission  to  bring  the  suit." 

He  declared  that  in  his  judgment  the  settlement  of 
1879  was  "honorable  to  the  State  and  just  to  her  cred- 


104  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

itors,"  and  accordingly  he  employed  counsel  to  aid  the 
Attorney-General  in  defending  the  suit.  The  Court 
however,  by  a  vote  of  five  to  four,  decided  against  the 
State  of  North  Carolina. 

Eminent  lawyers,  business  men  and  editors,  and  even 
some  members  of  the  administration,  believed  that,  in 
spite  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  there  was  no 
way  in  which  the  judgment  could  be  enforced  against 
the  State;  and  they  vigorously  opposed  any  settle- 
ment. Ay  cock  believed  "that  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States  Court  over  this  matter  had  been  secured 
by  chicanery,"  and  thought  the  decision  wrong  and  un- 
just; nevertheless,  the  decision  of  the  highest  court 
of  the  land  imposed  a  moral  obligation  on  the  State, 
whether  the  judgment  could  be  forcibly  collected  or 
not,  to  bow  to  the  decree,  and  he  therefore  recom- 
mended to  the  Legislature  the  prompt  payment  of  the 
judgment,  and  the  settlement  of  the  bonds  still  in  the 
brokers'  hands  on  the  best  basis  possible.  He  thought 
that  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  settle  them  "at 
much  less  than  their  face  value."  Accordingly  the 
Legislature  provided  for  their  settlement,  which  was 
done  under  his  successor,  on  a  basis  of  25  cents  on  the 
dollar  with  interest,  the  same  basis  which  the  State 
had  offered  in  1879. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  single  business  interest 
of  the  State  over  which  the  Governor  exercised  control 
was  the  Atlantic  and  North  Carolina  Railroad.  As 
Aycock's  management  of  this  property  reveals  him  in  an 
altogether  different  light  from  that  in  which  he  is  best 
known,  we  do  not  think  it  out  of  place  to  treat  it  some- 
what in  detail.     When  he  began  his  administration  the 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  105 

affairs  of  the  company  were  not  in  good  shape.  Its 
stock,  of  which  the  State  owned  something  more  than 
70  per  cent.,  could  not  be  sold  for  more  than  25  cents 
on  the  dollar.  The  best  offer  that  could  be  obtained 
for  a  lease  did  not  exceed  1§  per  cent,  on  its  capital  of 
$1,800,000.  Under  Aycock's  administration  the  re- 
ceipts were  nearly  doubled,  the  roadbed  was  put  in 
excellent  repair,Hhe  rolling  stock  improved  and  the 
facilities  for  handling  its  business  greatly  increased. 
At  the  close  of  the  third  year  of  his  management  the 
stock  was  "selling  readily  at  $50"  and  three  offers  for 
a  lease  had  been  filed  averaging  more  than  5  per  cent. 
While  the  Governor  was  considering  these  offers  one 
of  the  bidders,  V.  E.  McBee,  attempted  to  force  his 
hands  by  having  the  road  thrown  into  the  hands  of  a 
receiver.  By  agreeing  to  pay  three  times  their  market 
value,  he  secured  an  option  on  forty-seven  shares  of 
stock,  which  he  had  transferred  to  one  K.  S.  Finch  of 
New  York.  Finch  gave  his  note  for  the  full  amount  to 
the  original  owner,  at  the  same  time  depositing  the  cer- 
tificates with  it  as  collateral.  Such  was  the  basis  upon 
which  he  expected  to  secure  a  standing  in  the  Federal 
Court.  In  the  meantime  his  complaint  had  already 
been  completed  except  for  filling  in  the  number  of  his 
shares,  which  had  been  left  blank  because  it  was  not 
known  how  many  he  might  be  able  to  buy.  This  detail 
finally  arranged,  McBee,  Finch  and  their  attorneys 
took  a  midnight  train  for  Norfolk,  Virginia,  where 
they  expected  to  find  Judge  Thomas  R.  Purnell,  of  the 
United  States  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District 
of  North  Carolina.  Early  the  following  morning  their 
complaint,  alleging  mismanagement  of  the  road,  was 


106  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

duly  filed.  The  Judge  was  outside  of  his  jurisdiction; 
he  had  before  him  no  evidence  except  the  allega- 
tions of  the  complaint;  no  notice  had  been  served  on 
the  State  or  any  private  stockholder.  The  Atlantic 
and  North  Carolina  Railroad  was  a  domestic  corpora- 
tion. All  its  property  was  in  North  Carolina.  It  had 
not  absconded,  nor  was  it  alleged  that  there  was  any 
danger  of  its  absconding.  Its  officers  were  all  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court,  and  could  easily  be  reached 
at  any  time.  No  claim  was  made  that  a  delay  of  a  few 
days  would  work  injury  to  the  property.  No  emergency 
had  arisen,  or  was  even  alleged  to  have  arisen,  to  make 
immediate  action  necessary.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of 
all  these  undisputed  facts,  the  Judge  granted  the  prayer 
and  appointed  McBee  receiver.  The  new  receiver 
hurried  to  New  Bern,  where  the  company's  offices  were 
located,  peremptorily  ejected  the  old  officials,  and  with 
much  vaunting  of  the  great  things  he  proposed  to  do, 
took  charge  of  the  road. 

But  McBee  had  overlooked  the  Governor  of  North 
Carolina.  Aycock  was  left  to  hear  of  the  receivership 
by  chance.  Amazed  at  the  action  of  the  Federal  Court, 
he  determined  to  resist  it  with  the  full  power  of  the 
State.  Inquiry  at  the  office  of  the  company's  treasurer 
revealed  the  fact  that  Finch's  name  did  not  appear 
on  the  company's  stock  book.  Further  inquiry  showed 
that  not  a  single  creditor,  not  a  single  private  stock- 
holder had  joined  in  Finch's  complaint.  On  the  con- 
trary three  fourths  of  the  latter  hastened  to  appeal  to 
the  Governor  to  protect  their  interests.  After  a  thor- 
ough review  of  the  whole  situation,  though  he  could 
not  then  get  at  all  the  facts,  Aycock  discovered  enough 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  107 

to  convince  him  that  a  conspiracy  had  been  formed  to 
despoil  the  State  of  its  property,  and  he  determined  to 
crush  it  with  a  strong  hand. 

Fully  realizing  the  danger  in  forcing  an  issue  betweerf 
the  State  and  Federal  authorities,  he  proceeded  cau- 
tiously, but  firmly,  carefully  entrenching  himself  behind 
the  law  in  every  position.  At  his  instance  Attorney- 
General  Gilmer  swore  out  an  affidavit  before  Chief 
Justice  Clark,  of  the  State  Supreme  Court,  charging 
Finch  and  McBee  with  a  criminal  conspiracy  "to  in- 
jure, damage  and  impoverish  the  property  of  the 
Atlantic  and  North  Carolina  Railroad  Company." 
Upon  this  affidavit  the  Chief  Justice  issued  a  bench 
warrant  for  their  arrest.  Finch  was  out  of  the  State, 
but  McBee  was  promptly  apprehended  and  brought 
before  the  Chief  Justice  for  examination.  The  Govern- 
or's action  was  a  bomb  in  the  camp  of  the  conspirators. 
Newspapers  hostile  to  the  administration  assailed  his 
course  with  vigor.  Individuals  favorable  to  them 
joined  in  the  clamor.  Others  were  equally  outspoken 
in  his  defence.  Throughout  the  State  interest  was 
raised  to  white  heat.  The  daring  of  the  conspirators, 
the  boldness  of  the  Governor,  the  thundering  of  the 
press,  the  importance  of  the  interests  at  stake,  stirred 
the  State  from  one  end  to  the  other.  When  McBee, 
in  charge  of  the  Sheriff  of  Craven  County,  was  brought 
before  the  Chief  Justice,  an  immense  crowd  packed 
the  courtroom.  The  presence  of  the  Governor,  the 
Attorney-General  and  other  State  officials,  the  eminence 
of  the  counsel  on  both  sides,  the  eagerness  with  which 
the  defendant  sought  to  avoid  examination,  the  per- 
sistency with  which  the  State  endeavored  to  force  a 


108  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

disclosure  of  all  the  facts,  the  stubbornness  with  which 
every  inch  of  ground  was  contested,  and  the  skill  with 
which  the  counsel  took  advantage  of  every  legal  point, 
*all  combined  to  make  it  one  of  the  most  dramatic  scenes 
in  the  recent  history  of  the  State.  From  the  unwilling 
defendant  the  State's  counsel  wrung  a  full  statement 
of  all  the  facts  which  fully  justified  the  Governor's 
action.  The  Chief  Justice  bound  McBee  over  to  the 
Superior  Court  under  a  $2,000  bond;  and  the  next  day 
Circuit  Judge  Charles  H.  Simonton  dissolved  the 
receivership. 

The  fight,  however,  was  not  at  an  end.  The  con- 
spirators returned  to  the  charge,  and  in  the  name  of 
John  P.  Cuyler  of  New  York  again  asked  for  a  re- 
ceivership. Cuyler  alleged  that  he  owned  thirty- 
seven  shares  of  stock  "which  even  at  par,"  as  Governor 
Ay  cock  declared,  "would  not  pay  the  expenses  of  a 
lawsuit  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States," 
though  as  a  matter  of  fact  he  did  not  control  a  single 
share.  As  Aycock  stated:  "The  difference  between 
Finch's  suit  and  Cuyler's  was  that  Finch  brought  suit 
before  he  got  control  of  any  stock  and  Cuyler  brought 
his  after  he  lost  control  of  it.  They  were  both  puppets 
in  the  hands  of  some  man  or  some  men  seeking  to  de- 
spoil the  State  of  her  property."  As  a  test  of  Cuyler's 
good  faith  Aycock  "caused  an  effort  to  be  made  to 
purchase  his  stock,  but  he  declined  to  consider  any  prop- 
osition for  its  purchase.  He  would  not  take  par  for  stock 
in  a  road  of  which  he  alleged  the  management  was  bad, 
inefficient  and  lawless."  On  May  28th  Judge  Purnell 
heard  his  complaint,  ordered  a  second  receivership,  and 
appointed  Thomas  D.   Meares  receiver.    Two  days 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  109 

later  he  appointed  a  eo-receiver,  V.  E.  McBee, 
and  on  the  same  day  the  Grand  Jury  of  Wake  County 
returned  a  true  bill  against  McBee  for  criminal  con- 
spiracy in  the  matter  of  the  first  receivership ! 

Again  McBee  hurried  to  New  Bern  and  together 
with  Meares  again  took  charge  of  the  road.  But  his 
triumph  was  even  briefer  than  before.  On  May  31st 
Chief  Justice  Fuller  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
upon  application  of  the  State,  granted  a  writ  of  super- 
sedeas commanding  that  the  order  of  the  lower  court 
"be  stayed  and  suspended,  and  that  the  properties  of 
the  Atlantic  and  North  Carolina  Railroad  Company 
be  left  in  the  hands  of  its  officers  until  the  further 
order  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals." 
Even  toward  this  order  McBee  and  Meares  showed  de- 
fiance, and  refused  to  obey.  Thereupon  Aycock  tele- 
graphed to  the  officers  of  the  Company  at  New  Bern : 

"  Put  receivers  out  of  office.  If  necessary  call  on  the 
sheriff  to  put  them  out.  If  military  is  needed  notify 
me.     Order  of  Chief  Justice  Fuller  shall  be  obeyed." 

But  such  drastic  measures  were  not  necessary.  The 
conspirators  had  now  learned  something  about  the 
character  of  North  Carolina's  Governor,  and  when 
they  were  shown  his  telegram  they  prudently  gave  up 
the  fight. 

The  Governor's  course  met  with  the  approval  of 
patriotic  and  law-abiding  citizens.  His  courage  was 
the  theme  of  every  man's  conversation.  But  a  general 
review  of  the  whole  matter  leaves  one  in  doubt  whether 
most  to  admire  his  boldness  or  his  wisdom.  Every 
step  that  he  took  was  carefully  considered  and  com- 


110  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

pletely  vindicated  by  the  results.  The  property  of  the 
State  was  saved  from  spoliation  and  later  leased  upon 
terms  advantageous  to  all.  This  lease  he  made  to  the 
Howland  Improvement  Company  which  afterward 
transferred  it  to  the  Norfolk-Southern  Railway  Com- 
pany. The  vast  improvements  made  in  the  road,  the 
benefits  received  by  the  section  through  which  it  runs, 
and  the  revenue  yielded  to  the  State,  justify  Ay  cock's 
policy.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  as  counsel  for  a  syn- 
dicate in  close  connection  with  the  Norfolk-Southern 
Railway  Company,  he  was  taking  an  important  part 
in  consummating  plans  for  the  extension  of  the  system 
over  a  large  territory.  Thus  the  policy  which  he  pur- 
sued has  resulted  for  the  first  time  in  giving  adequate 
railroad  facilities  to  the  eastern  section  of  the  State, 
in  opening  up  large  sections  of  the  State  for  develop- 
ment, in  promoting  the  commercial,  agricultural  and 
manufacturing  interests  of  the  east,  and  in  bringing 
it  into  closer  touch  with  the  rest  of  the  State  than  it  has 
ever  been  before.  Ay  cock  foresaw  all  this  development 
and  gave  it,  at  the  time  of  making  the  lease,  as  his  reason 
for  preferring  a  foreign  syndicate  to  a  home  one. 

When  Aycock  was  elected  governor  many  of  his 
friends,  though  acknowledging  his  preeminent  ability 
as  an  orator  and  a  lawyer,  were  doubtful  whether  he 
had  had  sufficient  experience  as  a  man  of  affairs  to 
manage  successfully  the  business  interests  of  the  State. 
After  his  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  state  prison, 
and  other  state  institutions,  the  problems  arising  out 
of  the  South  Dakota  suit,  and  the  Atlantic  and  North 
Carolina  Railroad,  no  one  ever  again  questioned  his 
business  sagacity  and  ability. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

"the  educational  governor" 

THE  constitutional  power  of  the  governor  of 
North  Carolina  to  affect  legislation  is  a  neg- 
ligible quantity.  Possessing  no  veto  power 
and  but  little  patronage,  he  has  no  "big  stick"  with 
which  he  can  persuade  refractory  legislators  to  see 
public  questions  as  he  sees  them.  It  is  related  that 
William  Hooper,  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Con- 
vention of  1776,  that  framed  the  Constitution  of  North 
Carolina,  was  asked  by  one  of  his  constituents  what 
powers  the  new  Constitution  conferred  upon  the  gov- 
ernor. "Power,  sir,"  replied  Hooper,  "to  sign  a 
receipt  for  his  salary!"  From  that  day  to  this  no  ad- 
ditional power  over  legislation  has  been  given  to  the 
governor.  There  is  a  well-authenticated  story  that 
when  a  recent  governor  expressed  the  wish  that  he 
could  be  relieved  of  the  trouble  and  worry  involved  in 
the  pardoning  power,  a  witty  lawyer  retorted :  "  Why, 
Governor,  if  the  pardoning  power  were  taken  away  from 
the  governor,  I'd  take  the  job  for  ten  dollars  a  month." 
Nevertheless  there  have  been  governors  of  North 
Carolina  who  realized  that  the  prestige  of  the  office 
gives  to  a  governor  inspired  with  a  great  purpose  a 
power  for  moulding  public  opinion  and  thus  influencing 
legislation  more  potent  than  any  "big  stick  "  could  ever 

ill 


112  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

give.  Such  in  ante-bellum  days  was  Governor  More- 
head  who,  using  the  prestige  of  his  office  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  works  of  internal  improvements,  won  for 
himself  a  distinctive  place  in  the  history  of  the  State; 
such  in  our  own  day  was  Governor  Glenn,  who,  by 
throwing  the  prestige  of  his  office  behind  the  prohibi- 
tion movement,  gave  to  it  a  momentum  which  other- 
wise it  never  could  have  acquired.  More  strongly 
than  any  of  his  predecessors,  or  any  of  his  successors, 
did  Charles  B.  Ay  cock  realize  the  effectiveness  of  the 
weapon  which  the  office  places  in  the  hands  of  the 
incumbent.  It  was  this  that  induced  him  to  seek  it. 
Merely  to  be  governor  meant  nothing  to  him;  to  be 
governor  with  a  purpose  meant  everything  to  him. 
And  he  had  a  purpose,  and  it  was  in  order  that  he 
might  throw  behind  this  purpose  all  the  moral  in- 
fluence of  the  office,  that  he  desired  to  be  governor. 
His  purpose  was  to  uplift  all  the  people  of  North  Caro- 
lina, white  and  black,  through  the  power  of  universal 
education. 

Aycock's  interest  in  public  education  was  not  a 
sudden  caprice.  As  a  mere  boy,  before  entering  the 
University,  he  had  taught  a  public  school  in  Wayne 
County.  At  the  University  he  took  a  deep  interest  in 
the  subject.  His  first  public  office,  (1881-1882)  was 
the  superintendency  of  the  Wayne  County  public 
school  system.  For  more  than  seventeen  years  (1887- 
1901,  1905-1909),  he  served  on  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  Goldsboro  Public  Schools,  most  of  the  time  as 
chairman. 

He  always  kept  in  close  touch  with  the  most  ad- 
vanced educational  thought  of  the  day.     He  induced 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  113 

the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Goldsboro  Public  Schools 
to  grant  the  first  pension  ever  given  to  a  public  school 
teacher  in  North  Carolina.  The  education  of  the 
children  of  the  "factory  districts"  deeply  interested 
him.  He  opposed  the  segregation  of  the  factory  opera- 
tives from  the  other  people  of  the  community  and  the 
education  of  their  children  in  separate  "factory  schools," 
because  this  custom,  he  thought,  tended  to  create  and 
develop  a  caste  system,  and  that  offended  his  ideals 
of  democracy.  He  advocated  and  interested  the  peo- 
ple of  his  county  in  plans  for  the  erection  in  Wayne 
County  of  a  public  county  high  school  which  should 
base  its  curriculum  on  the  life  and  resources  of  the 
community  which  it  was  designed  to  serve.  Agri- 
culture, manual  training,  domestic  science  and  all  the 
household  arts  were  to  take  their  places  in  the  course 
of  study  along  with  the  so-called  cultural  studies.  While 
he  was  considering  these  plans  the  present  State  High 
School  Law  was  enacted  designed  to  accomplish  for  all 
the  counties  of  the  State  the  purposes  which  he  had  in 
mind  for  Wayne  County. 

Perhaps  it  is  some  indication  of  the  wisdom  with 
which,  as  chairman,  he  directed  the  affairs  of  the  Golds- 
boro schools  that,  during  his  incumbency,  the  list  of 
those  who  served  the  schools  as  superintendent  in- 
cluded Edwin  A.  Alderman,  now  President  of  the 
University  of  Virginia;  James  Y.  Joyner,  now  State 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  North  Caro- 
lina; Julius  I.  Foust,  now  President  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina State  Normal  and  Industrial  College  for  Women, 
and  Eugene  C.  Brooks,  now  Professor  of  Pedagogy  in 
Trinity    College.     "His    influence,"    says    President 


114  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Foust,  "so  thoroughly  permeated  the  community  and 
the  school  board  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  select 
any  definite  service  that  he  rendered.  I  remember 
his  telling  me  at  the  time  he  was  elected  governor  that 
he  had  rather  be  chairman  of  the  Goldsboro  School 
Board  than  be  governor  of  North  Carolina.  He  said 
that  he  never  hoped  to  receive  any  honor  that  he 
would  appreciate  half  so  much  as  he  appreciated  the 
honor  of  helping  to  direct  the  Goldsboro  schools  as 
chairman  of  their  Board  of  Trustees.  I  was  superin- 
tendent of  the  Goldsboro  schools  for  nine  years.  For 
most  of  that  time  Governor  Aycock  was  chairman  of 
the  Board.  He  was  a  busy  man,  but  I  never  found  him 
too  busy  to  give  any  amount  of  time  to  the  considera- 
tion of  questions  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  schools." 

On  January  15,  1901,  the  children  of  the  Goldsboro 
Public  Schools  enjoyed  a  holiday  because  on  that  day, 
in  the  Capital  City  of  the  State,  the  chairman  of  their 
Board  of  Trustees  was  to  be  inaugurated  governor,  and 
to  become  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  all  the 
public  schools  of  North  Carolina.*  At  that  time,  as 
Mr.  Brooks  has  said,  "North  Carolina  did  not  believe 
in  public  education."  Only  thirty  districts  in  the 
State,  all  urban,  considered  education  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  levy  a  local  tax  for  the  support  of  schools. 
The  average  salary  paid  to  county  superintendents 
annually  was  less  than  one  dollar  a  day,  to  public  school 
teachers,  $91.25  for  the  term.  This  meant,  of  course, 
that  the  office  of  county  superintendent  was  either  a 
"political  job,"  usually  given  to  some  struggling  young 
attorney  for  local  party  service,  or  a  public  charity  used 

*The  governor  is  President  of  the  State  Board  of  Education. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  115 

to  help  support  the  growing  family  of  some  needy  but 
deserving  preacher;  and,  further,  that  there  were  no  pro- 
fessional teachers  in  the  public  schools.  Practically  no 
interest  was  manifested  in  the  building  or  equipment  of 
schoolhouses.  The  children  of  more  than  950  public 
school  districts  were  altogether  without  schoolhouses, 
while  those  in  1,132  districts  sat  on  rough  pine  boards 
in  log  houses  chinked  with  clay.  Perhaps  under  all  these 
circumstances  it  was  well  enough  that  the  schools  were 
kept  open  only  seventy-three  days  in  the  year,  and  that 
less  than  one  third  of  the  children  of  school  age  attended 
them.  "  Many  of  our  most  progressive  towns,  commer- 
cially, stood  solidly  against  voting  any  taxes  for  schools, 
and  one  town  after  making  the  supposed  mistake  of 
voting  the  tax,  and  after  trying  the  public  schools  for 
a  year  or  two,  voted  the  tax  out,  closed  the  school,  and 
celebrated  the  event  with  bonfires  and  brass  bands." 
The  civilization  of  the  State  was  based  on  an  ultra- 
individualism,  and  thousands  of  citizens,  conscientious, 
intelligent,  patriotic,  honestly  could  not  understand 
why  they  should  pay  taxes  to  educate  other  people's 
children.  Other  thousands  were  willing  to  support 
schools  for  white  children,  but  stood  steadfastly  and 
doggedly  against  the  education  of  the  negro;  and  as 
school  taxes  could  not,  under  the  Constitution,  be  voted 
for  the  former  without  being  voted  for  the  latter,  these 
people  appear  to  have  been  willing  to  deny  education 
to  white  children  in  order  that  they  might  keep  the 
negro  in  ignorance.  Thus,  to  complicate  a  situation 
already  sufficiently  difficult,  the  race  issue  injected  its 
poison  into  the  very  vitals  of  the  problem. 

There  had  been  no  lack  of  eloquent  advocates  in 


116  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

North  Carolina  to  plead  the  cause  of  universal  educa- 
tion. In  ante-bellum  days  Joseph  Caldwell,  Archi- 
bald D.  Murphey,  and  Calvin  H.  Wiley  —  whom  Ay- 
cock  called  "the  founder  of  our  public  schools  and  the 
most  eloquent  advocate  of  them  "  —  had  aroused  no  in- 
considerable amount  of  interest  in  the  cause,  and  had  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  system  that  promised  great  things  for 
the  future.  But  like  other  progressive  movements  of 
the  period,  after  withstanding  the  ravages  of  civil  war, 
these  schools  had  gone  to  wreck  in  the  cataclysm  of 
reconstruction.  In  the  years  following  the  period  of 
reconstruction  came  John  C.  Scarborough,  Sydney  M. 
Finger,  Charles  H.  Mebane,  superintendents  of  public 
instruction,  who  established  and  organized  the  public 
school  system  of  to-day.  To  this  period  of  our  edu- 
cational history  belongs,  too,  the  pioneer  work  of  Edwin 
A.  Alderman  and  Charles  Duncan  Mclver,  whom  Dr. 
Alderman  declared  to  be  "the  most  effective  speaker 
for  public  education  that  I  have  known  in  America." 
In  the  summer  of  1889,  as  Dr.  Alderman  has  said,  these 
two  men  undertook  "a  new  and  untried  experiment  in 
North  Carolina  or  the  South,  a  deliberate  effort  by 
unique  campaign  methods  to  create  and  mould  public 
opinion  on  the  question  of  popular  education,  involving 
taxation  for  the  benefit  of  others";  and  for  three  years, 
in  every  county  in  the  State,  they  prosecuted  their 
work  with  "full-blooded  enthusiasm,  exaltation  and 
faith  in  the  people.  .  .  .  And,"  continues  Dr. 
Alderman,  "some  good  seed  were  sown,  I  think,  which 
have  increased  some  thirty,  some  sixty,  and  some  a 
hundredfold." 

It  was  the  harvest  of  these  seed  that  Aycock  came  to 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  117 

reap.  He  did  not  initiate  the  movement  of  which  he 
came  to  be  the  chief  exponent  and  the  most  eloquent 
advocate.  He  did  not  formulate  its  policies.  This 
was  the  work  for  the  educational  expert,  and  he  realized 
it.  "I  have  not  stood  alone  in  this  work,"  said  he.  " I 
did  not  originate  it."  His  work  was  to  present  the 
cause  to  the  people  and  to  secure  their  support  without 
which  all  the  policies  of  the  professional  educator,  how- 
ever wise,  were  futile.  Aycock's  distinctive  service 
to  the  cause  of  education  was  that  he  brought  to  it  the 
prestige  and  influence  of  his  high  office,  and  gave  to 
it,  without  stint,  the  benefit  of  his  own  matchless 
eloquence.  The  people  heard  him  because  he  was  gov- 
ernor; they  listened  because  his  earnestness  and  sin- 
cerity were  unfeigned;  they  followed  him  because  his 
eloquence  was  irresistible. 

The  adoption  of  the  Suffrage  Amendment,  with  its 
educational  test  for  suffrage  after  1908,  gave  Ay  cock 
the  opportunity  for  which  he  had  been  waiting  and 
preparing.  With  this  as  the  basis  of  his  appeal,  leav- 
ing the  technical  details  of  the  problem  to  the  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction  and  his  professional 
advisers,  Aycock  went  to  the  people  upon  the  general 
issue  of  universal  education.  In  his  Inaugural  Address, 
speaking  to  the  General  Assembly,  he  said: 

"On  a  hundred  platforms,  to  half  the  voters  of  the 
State,  in  the  late  campaign,  I  pledged  the  State,  its 
strength,  its  heart,  its  wealth,  to  universal  education. 
.  .  .  Men  of  wealth,  representatives  of  great  cor- 
porations applauded  eagerly  my  declaration.  I  then 
realized  that  the  strong  desire  which  dominated  me  for 
the  uplifting  of  the  whole  people  moved  not  only  my 


118  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

heart,  but  was  likewise  the  hope  and  aspiration  of  those 
upon  whom  fortune  had  smiled.  .  .  .  Then  I  knew 
that  the  task  before  us  .  .  .  was  not  an  impossible 
one.  We  are  prospering  as  never  before  —  our  wealth 
increases,  our  industries  multiply,  our  commerce  ex- 
tends, and  among  the  owners  of  this  wealth,  this  multi- 
plying industry,  this  extending  commerce,  I  have  found 
no  man  who  is  unwilling  to  make  the  State  stronger  and 
better  by  liberal  aid  to  the  cause  of  education.  Gentle- 
men of  the  Legislature,  you  will  not  have  aught  to  fear 
when  you  make  ample  provision  for  the  education  of 
the  whole  people.  .  .  .  For  my  part  I  declare  to 
you  that  it  shall  be  my  constant  aim  and  effort  during 
the  four  years  that  I  shall  endeavor  to  serve  the  people 
of  this  State  to  redeem  this  most  solemn  of  all  our 
pledges." 

Aycock  fully  redeemed  this  pledge.  As  soon  as  the 
Legislature  of  1901  adjourned,  together  with  State 
Superintendent  Toon,  he  started  out  on  a  canvass  of 
the  State  in  the  interest  of  his  educational  policy.  But 
a  serious  difficulty  immediately  presented  itself.  North 
Carolina  is  a  large  state.  It  has  no  centres  of  popula- 
tion. More  than  80  per  cent,  of  its  people  live  on  their 
farms  widely  scattered  over  an  immense  territory. 
The  time  in  which  a  canvass  of  the  State  can  success- 
fully be  made  is  limited  to  three  or  four  months  of  the 
year.  Though  both  the  Governor  and  the  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction  were  willing  to  give 
freely  of  their  time  and  money,  it  was  impossible  for 
them  alone  to  reach  more  than  a  small  percentage  of  the 
people.  Only  a  general  campaign,  calling  into  service 
a  large  number  of  volunteers,  could  accomplish  this 
task.  But  there  was  no  money  for  defraying  the  ex- 
penses of  such  a  campaign,  and  this  fact  threatened  for 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  119 

a  time  to  impede  the  carrying  out  of  the  Governor's 
policy.  The  winter  of  1901  brought  unexpected  re- 
lief, through  the  organization  of  the  Southern  Educa- 
tion Board,  composed  of  educational  philanthropists, 
statesmen,  and  teachers  of  all  parts  of  the  Union,  for 
the  purpose  of  promoting  the  cause  of  education  in  the 
South.  This  board  proposed  to  supply  the  funds  for 
financing  such  campaigns  as  Aycock  had  in  mind,  and 
Ay  cock  eagerly  accepted  its  aid. 

Early  in  190°2,  at  the  instance  of  Charles  D.  Mclver, 
chairman  of  the  Campaign  Committee  of  the  Southern 
Education  Board,  Aycock  called  into  conference  a 
number  of  men  prominent  in  the  educational  work  of 
North  Carolina.  The  conference  was  held  in  his  office, 
February  13th,  and  was  presided  over  by  him.  Present 
at  it,  besides  the  Governor,  were  the  presidents  of  the 
State  University,  of  the  State  Normal  and  Industrial 
College  for  Women,  of  the  North  Carolina  College  of 
Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts,  of  Wake  Forest, 
Trinity,  Davidson,  and  other  church  colleges,  members 
of  their  faculties,  superintendents  of  city  and  county 
school  systems,  and  other  teachers  and  educational 
leaders.  The  purpose  of  the  conference  was  to  allay  the 
differences  that  had  long  divided  the  educational  forces 
of  the  State,  to  unite  them  all  in  support  of  the  educa- 
tional policy  of  the  administration,  and  to  organize  a 
state-wide  educational  campaign.  There  was  but  one 
man  in  the  State  who  could  have  brought  together  all 
these  warring  factions  and  accomplished  this  purpose. 
Him  all,  whatever  their  previous  differences  may  have 
been,  were  willing  to  follow. 

The  work  of  this  conference  began  an  important 


120  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

chapter  in  the  educational  history  of  North  Carolina, 
and  of  the  South.  "A  Declaration  against  Illiteracy" 
—  a  stirring  address  to  the  people  of  North  Carolina  — 
was  adopted,  giving  a  plain,  unvarnished  statement  of 
the  educational  conditions  in  the  State,  setting  forth  a 
sort  of  educational  platform  and  calling  upon  the  people 
"to  band  themselves  together  under  the  leadership  of 
our  'Educational  Governor'  and  the  State  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Instruction  to  carry  forward  the  work 
of  local  taxation  and  better  schools,  to  the  end  that 
every  child  within  our  borders  may  have  the  opportu- 
nity to  fit  himself  for  the  duties  of  citizenship  and 
social  service."  The  conference  created  "The  Central 
Campaign  Committee  for  the  Promotion  of  Public 
Education  in  North  Carolina,"  composed  of  Ay  cock, 
Toon,  and  Mclver.  This  committee's  work  was  to 
organize  and  conduct  a  general  and  systematic  cam- 
paign for  local  taxation,  consolidation  of  districts, 
better  schoolhouses,  and  longer  school  terms.  In  the 
following  interview  given  to  the  press,  Aycock  gave 
his  impressions  of  the  conference: 

"The  Educational  Conference  held  in  Raleigh  this 
week  resulted  in  bringing  together  the  forces  which 
have  heretofore  worked  separately  in  the  fight  against 
illiteracy.  In  the  past  we  have  been  wanting  in  the 
power  which  comes  from  unity  of  action.  We  have 
always  had  among  educators  a  common  purpose,  now 
we  are  going  to  join  in  the  actual  work.  The  conference 
was  harmonious  throughout.  There  was  a  free  inter- 
change of  views.  We  faced  the  actual  facts  and  have 
published  them  as  they  are.  Before  any  evil  can  be 
corrected  it  must  be  known  to  exist.  We  know  that  20 
per  cent,  of  our  white  population  over  ten  years  of  age 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  121 

cannot  read  and  write.  Knowing  this  we  determined 
that  each  year  should  show  a  decrease  in  this  number. 
To  this  end  a  systematic  campaign  will  be  organized. 
Speakers  will  be  sent  out  over  the  State,  the  news- 
papers —  always  on  the  side  of  popular  education  — 
will  be  asked  to  devote  more  space  to  educational 
matters,  and  the  preachers  are  invited  to  join  in  this 
great  work.  The  conference  did  much  good.  It 
stimulated  us  all  and  gave  us  renewed  hope  and 
courage." 

State  Superintendent  Toon  was  prevented  from  at- 
tending the  conference  by  serious  illness  which,  a  few 
days  later,  resulted  in  his  death.  In  his  message  to 
the  General  Assembly  of  1903  Ay  cock  paid  the  follow- 
ing tribute  to  his  memory: 

"On  the  19th  day  of  February,  1902,  Gen.  Thomas 
F.  Toon,  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  for  the 
State,  fell  on  sleep.  His  record  is  one  of  which  the 
State  may  well  be  proud.  He  entered  the  Confederate 
Army  a  young  man  as  a  private,  and  without  outside 
influence,  by  merit  alone,  won  promotion  after  promo- 
tion, until  he  became  a  Brigadier-General.  He  freely 
offered  his  life  for  the  independence  of  the  South.  He 
finally  gave  it  in  behalf  of  the  education  of  the  children. 
He  was  engaged  in  canvassing  the  State  in  advocacy  of 
larger  educational  facilities  when  he  was  attacked  by 
pneumonia.  He  ended  his  life  as  he  had  spent  it,  in 
patriotic  service  for  the  State.  As  soldier,  as  citizen, 
as  officer,  he  was  always  faithful  and  gave  to  the  cause 
which  he  espoused  his  full  devotion.  He  died  as  he 
lived,  without  other  fear  than  that  which  we  are  told  is 
the  beginning  of  wisdom." 

To  succeed  General  Toon,  Ay  cock  selected  James 
Yadkin  Joyner,  professor  of  English  in  the  State  Normal 


122  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

and  Industrial  College  for  Women.  The  new  State 
Superintendent  had  spent  his  life  in  the  quiet  of  the 
student's  cloister,  and  was  an  unknown  man  to  the 
State  at  large.  But  Ay  cock  knew  him.  They  had  been 
friends  in  their  college  days.  They  had  worked  to- 
gether as  chairman  and  superintendent  of  the  Golds- 
boro  Public  Schools.  In  no  act  of  his  administration 
did  Aycock  show  better  judgment  than  in  selecting 
this  "modest,  retiring  teacher"  to  become  the  head 
of  the  most  important  department  of  the  State  govern- 
ment; and  at  the  close  of  the  first  decade  of  his  service, 
it  seemed  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  "whoever  writes 
the  educational  history  of  this  decade  will  be  the 
biographer  of  James  Yadkin  Joyner." 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1902,  the  Campaign  Com- 
mittee —  now  composed  of  Aycock,  Mclver  and  Joyner 
—  opened  headquarters  in  the  office  of  the  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Instruction,  and  inaugurated  the 
most  unique  campaign  in  the  history  of  the  State  which 
has  continued,  with  more  or  less  interest,  until  the 
present  day.  Men  of  every  profession  and  business 
volunteered  their  services,  and  in  open-air  meetings, 
in  courthouses,  in  churches,  in  schoolhouses,  wherever 
the  people  could  assemble,  they  gathered  to  hear 
the  most  effective  orators  and  debaters  in  the  State  dis- 
cuss educational  problems  and  policies.  For  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  North  Carolina  politics  yielded 
first  place  in  public  interest  to  education. 

As  in  the  amendment  campaign  of  1900,  so  in  the 
educational  campaign  of  1902,  the  man  whom  the  peo- 
ple were  most  eager  to  hear  was  Charles  B.  Aycock. 
But  his  work  did  not  stop  with  the  campaign  of  1902. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  123 

For  four  years  he  let  pass  no  opportunity,  indeed,  he 
frequently  sought  opportunities  to  present  his  cause  to 
the  people.  In  the  city  and  in  the  country,  at  the 
remotest  rural  school  and  at  the  State  University,  at 
colleges  for  women  and  at  colleges  for  men,  at  church 
schools  and  at  state  schools,  at  institutions  for  whites 
and  at  institutions  for  negroes;  before  teachers'  assem- 
blies, before  political  conventions,  before  commercial 
clubs,  before  patriotic  societies,  before  social  organiza- 
tions; whether  addressing  a  conference  of  Northern 
philanthropists  in  Georgia  or  an  association  of  Southern 
teachers  in  Florida,  whether  speaking  to  the  manu- 
facturers of  North  Carolina  or  to  the  farmers  of  Maine, 
whether  opening  a  negro  fair  in  Raleigh  or  responding 
to  a  toast  before  the  North  Carolina  Society  at  the 
Waldorf-Astoria  in  New  York,  his  theme  was  always 
the  same  —  the  general  uplift  of  all  the  people  through 
the  power  of  universal  education.  He  never  wearied 
of  his  theme,  and  the  people  never  tired  of  hearing  him. 
Aycock's  philosophy  of  education  is  embraced  in  his 
Inaugural  Address  ("The  Ideals  of  a  New  Era"), 
in  his  speech  before  the  Southern  Educational 
Association  at  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  on  "How  the  South 
May  Regain  Its  Prestige,"  and  in  his  famous  speech 
on  "Universal  Education."  It  was  the  last  of 
these  that  gave  him  his  great  reputation  as  an 
educational  campaigner,  and  brought  him  invitations 
from  Maine  to  Alabama,  from  North  Carolina  to  Okla- 
homa. In  the  summer  of  1904,  at  the  invitation  of  the 
State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  Maine, 
he  made  a  tour  of  that  State  speaking  everywhere  to 
large  and  appreciative  audiences.     He  was  delivering 


124  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

this  speech  to  an  enthusiastic,  cheering  audience  in  the 
State  of  Alabama  when  he  fell  dead.  As  the  three 
speeches  mentioned  are  printed  in  full  in  this  volume 
it  is  not  necessary  to  make  any  further  reference  to 
them.  We  think  it  advisable,  however,  to  quote  a  few 
characteristic  passages  from  addresses  delivered  on 
special  occasions  that  were  of  more  than  passing  in- 
terest. 

One  of  these  was  his  response  to  the  toast,  "What  is 
North  Carolina  doing  to  meet  the  changed  conditions 
brought  about  by  the  war? "at  the  annual  banquet  of 
the  North  Carolina  Society  in  New  York  City,  May  21, 
1901.  Since  not  a  little  adverse  criticism  of  recent 
political  events  in  North  Carolina  had  appeared  in 
influential  journals  throughout  the  North,  Ay  cock  was 
glad  of  an  opportunity  to  speak  on  this  topic  in  the 
great  metropolis.  His  speech  was  devoted  largely  to  a 
reply  to  the  criticisms  and  to  a  plea  for  a  better  under- 
standing of  the  position  of  North  Carolina  and  other 
Southern  States  on  the  issues  involved.  He  gave  a 
rapid  and  vivid  sketch  of  the  conditions  that  had  com- 
pelled the  State  to  shake  off  the  burden  of  negro  rule, 
declared  that  the  Amendment  did  no  injustice  to  the 
negro,  and  described  its  beneficial  effects  on  the  indus- 
trial and  educational  life  of  the  State.     Said  he 

"With  the  solution  of  our  suffrage  question  there  has 
come  larger  liberty  of  thought  and  action.  .  .  .  We 
have  gone  out  of  politics  and  taken  up  business.  .  .  . 
We  have  ceased  to  set  brawn  against  brain.  We  have 
learned  the  power  of  skill  and  are  training  our  young 
people  in  the  ways  of  thrift  and  economy.  .  .  .  We 
are  going  to  educate  the  entire  population.     .     .     .   We 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  125 

spent  on  education  this  yeax  more  than  half  of  the 
entire  revenue  of  the  State.  ...  In  educating  all 
our  people  we  shall  not  depart  from  the  memories  of 
the  past  nor  forget  the  teachings  of  our  ancestors.  We 
believe  in  agriculture  and  in  commerce;  we  want  to  see 
all  the  people  grow  in  wealth,  but  above  all  we  wish  to 
maintain  that  sturdy  fidelity  to  principle  and  that 
apparent  disregard  of  life  which  has  ever  distinguished 
North  Carolinians  in  every  contest  where  heroism 
counted.     .     .     . 

"We  are  doing  no  injustice  to  any  one.  We  have 
peace  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  State. 
The  humblest  negro,  slave  though  he  may  have  been, 
and  unlettered  as  he  is,  can  enter  our  courts  of  justice 
with  absolute  certainty  of  a  fair  trial.  He  can  turn  to 
the  Legislature  and  his  appeal  for  legislative  aid  in  the 
education  of  his  children  will  not  go  unheeded,  and  I 
declare  to  you  that  his  prayer  for  clemency  will  not  be 
unheard  in  the  executive  office.     .     .     . 

"We  do  not  ask  for  charity;  we  are  not  seeking  gifts; 
all  that  we  want  is  to  be  let  alone  to  work  out  for  our- 
selves, in  love,  in  peace,  in  quiet,  in  the  fear  of  God,  the 
great  problems  which  confront  us.  We  wish  to  be 
understood,  and  I  ask  you,  gentlemen  of  the  North 
Carolina  Society,  to  study  our  situation,  inform  your- 
selves of  our  conditions,  and  in  this  great  metropolis 
to  let  all  men  know  the  problems  which  confront  us,  and 
the  sincerity  of  motive  with  which  we  are  endeavoring 
to  solve  them." 

Just  a  month  after  this  address  was  delivered  he 
spoke  before  the  Manufacturers'  Club  of  Charlotte. 
The  following  passage  illustrates  his  method  of  appeal 
to  the  business  interests  of  the  State  for  support  of  his 
educational  policy: 

"We  have  entered  upon  a  new  era  in  the  develop- 
ment of  our  State.     ...     If,  indeed,  we  are  to  have 


126  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

a  new  era  we  must  give  due  regard  to  the  ideas  of  other 
people.  .  .  .  Less  than  18  per  cent,  of  our  popula- 
tion dwell  in  cities  and  towns.  Eighty-two  per  cent, 
of  them  still  abide  in  the  country,  and  provincial  as  the 
modern  man  may  think  them,  they  are  still  the  power 
which  controls  the  destinies  of  the  State,  and  shapes  the 
hopes  and  aspirations  of  the  entire  community.  .  .  . 
You  cannot  in  the  nature  of  things  strike  out  on  lines 
which  are  antagonistic  to  the  views  of  82  per  cent, 
of  the  people.  I  care  not  how  strong  you  may  be, 
nor  how  rich  you  may  be,  after  all,  this  is  a  govern- 
ment of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people, 
and  particular  interests  will  ever  find  that  their  true 
course  is  in  harmony  with  that  of  a  majority  of  the 
people.  Your  manufacturing  interests  are  subject 
to  legislation,  and  legislation  is  controlled  by  the  views 
of  a  majority  of  the  people.  ...  I  am  anxious  to 
see  every  agency  which  tends  to  increase  the  wealth 
of  the  State  prosper  and  receive  that  encouragement 
which  comes  from  a  friendly  view  on  the  part  of  those 
who  possess  governmental  powers.     .     . 

"I  urge  you  [therefore],  with  all  your  might  and 
power  to  put  yourselves  in  the  front  of  this  great  move- 
ment for  universal  education.  With  education  will 
come  renewed  activity,  increased  and  better  work, 
higher  skill  and  consequently  higher  wages.  Every 
one  must  recognize  that  the  wealth  of  the  State  is 
dependent  upon  the  wages  which  are  paid  to  the  earners, 
and  these  wages  in  turn  are  dependent  upon  the  capac- 
ity of  the  wage  earner,  and  this  capacity  is  dependent 
in  a  large  measure  upon  the  quickness  and  skill  which 
comes  with  an  acquaintance  with  books. 

"When  the  glorious  day  of  universal  education  shall 
come,  our  State  will  stand  among  those  in  the  fore  rank 
of  the  nation,  our  opinions  upon  all  questions  will  be 
ascertained  before  action.  Our  writers  shall  do  justice 
to  the  memories  of  the  past,  our  historians  shall  give 
us  an  adequate  account  of  the  sufferings  and  sacrifices 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  127 

of  our  ancestors.  Our  novelists  shall  find  rich  material 
for  the  illustration  of  the  character  of  our  people,  and 
we  shall  be  enriched  by  the  culture  which  comes  from 
a  literature  of  our  own. 

"God  speed  the  day  when  men  shall  be  willing  to 
labor  for  the  good  of  all,  and  when  brethren  shall 
dwell  together  in  unity." 

Aycock  never  deceived  himself,  or  anybody  else,  by 
trying  to  make  it  appear  that  his  educational  policy 
could  be  carried  out  without  largely  increased  ex- 
penditures. He  frankly  admitted  that  much  more 
money  would  be  needed  than  the  people  of  North  Caro- 
lina were  accustomed  to  spending,  and  that  this  money 
must  be  raised  by  increased  taxes.  Defending  his 
administration  before  the  Democratic  State  Conven- 
tion of  1904,  he  exclaimed,  with  deep  emotion  and 
magical  effect: 

"It  undoubtedly  appears  cheaper  to  neglect  the  aged, 
the  feeble,  the  infirm,  the  defective,  to  forget  the  chil- 
dren of  this  generation,  but  the  man  who  does  it  is 
cursed  of  God,  and  the  State  that  permits  it  is  certain 
of  destruction.  There  are  people  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  who  take  no  care  of  the  weak  and  infirm,  who  care 
nought  for  their  children  and  provide  only  for  the 
gratification  of  their  own  desires,  but  these  people 
neither  wear  clothes  nor  dwell  in  houses.  They  leave 
God  out  of  consideration  in  their  estimate  of  life,  and 
are  known  to  us  as  savages." 

Speaking  on  this  subject  before  the  Conference  for 
Education  in  the  South,  held  at  Athens,  Georgia,  in 
1902,  he  said: 

"Some  of  our  people  here  have  said  that  the  people 
are  afraid  of  taxes.     They  are,  and  they  ought  to  be. 


128  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

There  never  has  been  a  battle  fought  for  English  and 
American  liberty  and  won  that  has  not  been  fought 
along  the  line  of  taxation.  Taxation  is  a  dangerous 
power,  and  the  people  ought  to  say  at  every  point 
when  and  how  they  shall  be  taxed.  The  taxation 
about  which  we  fought  was  taxation  that  was  spent  by 
a  king  in  ostentation  and  oppression,  and  the  people 
learned  that  to  keep  themselves  from  being  oppressed 
they  must  keep  the  purse  strings;  but  the  taxation  that 
goes  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  public  schools  is  the  very 
freedom  and  liberty  of  the  people. 

Let  us  not  complain  of  the  sensitiveness  of  our  people 
upon  the  subject  of  taxation,  for  it  is  ingrained  and 
beats  with  their  blood.  What  we  want  is  to  leave  off 
discussion  and  get  the  strength  and  benefit  that  comes 
from  community  of  action.  We  want  local  taxation, 
for  .  .  .  eager  and  anxious  as  we  are  to  uplift 
our  people,  we  recognize  that  it  would  not  uplift  us 
if  some  kind-hearted  people  came  along  to  pay  for  our 
instruction.  Education  means  some  self-sacrifice  to 
achieve  the  higher  and  better  things.  I  want  to  say 
to  our  distinguished  friends  while  in  conference  here 
that  I  count  it  far  more  gain  to  the  cause  of  education 
that  we  meet  together  as  brethren  and  discuss  these 
matters  than  the  gift  of  all  the  millions  which  they 
could  pour  into  this  work." 

Men  of  property  frequently  met  Aycock's  argument 
for  extra  school  taxes  with  the  declaration  that  they 
would  be  willing  to  pay  the  taxes  for  schools  if  the  State 
would  pass  a  compulsory  school  attendance  law.  He 
recognized  the  force  of  this  position,  but  he  opposed  the 
remedy  suggested. 

"The  question  now  confronting  North  Carolina," 
said  he,  "is  the  education  of  her  children,  and  this 
can  only  be  accomplished  by  the  creation  of  a  public 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  129 

opinion  so  potent  that  no  man  will  dare  to  leave  his 
child  out  of  the  schools.  .  .  .  Let  us  compel  the 
attendance  of  every  child,  not  by  law,  but  by  the  power 
of  an  opinion  that  cannot  be  resisted."  "I  know  these 
North  Carolina  people.  They  can  be  led,  but  it  is  hard 
to  compel  them.  So  I  am  in  favor  of  writing  it  in  the 
hearts  of  men.  It  will  be  better  there.  I  want  to  get 
public  opinion  behind  it.  I  want  to  create  a  sentiment 
in  North  Carolina  that  will  keep  any  little  boy  or  girl 
from  having  to  make  a  support  for  his  father  who  is 
sitting  on  the  corner  whittling  a  piece  of  white  pine." 

In  line  with  this  position,  he  favored  and  recom- 
mended to  the  Legislature  the  passage  of  an  act  regulat- 
ing the  labor  of  children  in  textile  and  furniture  fac- 
tories. His  recommendation,  the  first  of  its  kind  ever 
made  by  a  governor  of  North  Carolina,  was  to  forbid 
absolutely  the  employment  in  such  factories  of  any 
child  under  twelve  years  of  age,  the  employment  for 
night  work  of  any  child  under  fourteen,  and,  after  1905, 
the  employment  either  day  or  night  of  any  child  under 
fourteen  who  could  not  read  and  write.  Such  a  clause, 
said  he,  would  be  "a  mild  form  of  compulsory  education 
around  factory  towns."  This  recommendation  re- 
sulted in  putting  on  the  statute  books  of  North  Carolina 
the  first  child  labor  law  in  the  history  of  the  State.  He 
never  lost  interest  in  this  problem,  and  until  the  day  of 
his  death  served  actively  as  a  member  of  the  North 
Carolina  Child  Labor  Committee,  whose  work  is  grad- 
ually bringing  North  Carolina  into  line  with  the  most 
progressive  states  of  the  Union  on  this  subject. 

When  Ay  cock  declared  in  favor  of  "universal  educa- 
tion," he  meant  exactly  what  the  expression  implies. 
He  included  in  it  the  education  of  the  negro  as  well  as 


130  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

of  the  white.  One  of  the  finest  passages  in  his  Inau- 
gural Address  is  that  in  which  he  assured  the  negroes  of 
the  State  that  his  administration  would  not  be  un- 
friendly to  them.  "Their  every  right  under  the  Con- 
stitution," he  declared,  "shall  be  absolutely  preserved." 
Among  those  rights  was  the  right  to  a  public  school 
education,  for  the  Constitution  distinctly  declares  that 
while  the  two  races  shall  be  taught  in  separate  schools, 
"there  shall  be  no  discrimination  in  favor  of  or  to  the 
prejudice  of  either  race."  This  right  Aycock  was 
determined  to  maintain,  not  merely  for  the  benefit  of 
the  negro,  but  also  because  he  felt  that  the  safety, 
prosperity  and  honor  of  the  State  w7ere  involved  in 
doing  so. 

His  position  on  this  question  was  stated  in  April 
1901,  in  an  interview  given  to  the  New  York  Herald, 
in  reply  to  a  request  for  his  impressions  of  the  Confer- 
ence for  Education  in  the  South  at  Winston-Salem: 

"There  was  a  full  and  frank  discussion  of  educational 
problems  and  interchange  of  views  that  can  but  be 
beneficial.  We  know  more  of  the  Northern  view  and 
our  visitors  know  more  of  us.  We  do  not,  probably, 
entirely  agree,  but  we  respect  more  than  ever  the  opin- 
ions of  each  other.  If  the  negro  is  ever  educated  it  will 
be  by  the  aid  of  Southern  white  men.  The  North  can- 
not do  it.  Philanthropists  in  the  North  may  think 
they  can  educate  the  negro  without  the  help  of  Southern 
whites,  but  they  are  mistaken.  .  .  .  We  are  in 
this  State  in  the  midst  of  an  educational  revival.  We 
favor  universal  education  and  intend  to  accomplish  it. 
If  our  friends  in  the  North,  earnest  men  and  women, 
choose  to  aid  us  in  our  work  we  shall  receive  their  aid 
with  gratitude.  If  they  withhold  assistance  we  shall 
nevertheless  do  the  work  which  lies  before  us.     We 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  131 

need  help,  but  we  can  do  the  work  unaided,  and  will 
rather  than  humiliate  ourselves.  .  .  .  As  to  the 
negro  we  shall  do  our  full  duty  to  him.  We  are  willing 
to  receive  aid  for  his  education,  but  without  aid  we 
shall  in  the  long  run  teach  him.  He  is  with  us  to  stay. 
His  destiny  and  ours  are  so  interwoven  that  we  cannot 
lift  ourselves  up  without  at  the  same  time  lifting  him. 
What  we  want  of  the  Northern  people  of  right  thought 
and  upright  intention,  more  than  all  their  money,  is  a 
frank  recognition  of  this  undeniable  fact,  and  we  will 
do  the  rest." 

Aycock's  position  on  this  question  met  with  intense 
opposition  in  the  State  and  subjected  him  to  severe 
personal  criticism.  Some  newspapers  became  openly 
hostile  to  his  whole  educational  policy,  applied  the 
term  "Educational  Governor"  to  him  in  derision,  and 
declared  that  it  would  be  a  blessing  to  the  State  if  our 
"Educational  Governor"  should  be  stricken  with 
lockjaw.  Hostility  to  his  policy,  for  a  time,  threatened 
to  extend  to  him  personally.  But  never  for  a  moment 
did  it  cause  him  to  swerve  an  inch  from  his  course. 
When  he  found  that  his  policy  was  unpopular  in  any 
particular  community,  that  was  the  very  community 
in  which  he  desired  to  speak.  Opening  an  address 
before  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Charlotte,  Janu- 
ary 14,  1902,  he  said: 

"When  I  received  the  invitation  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  to  deliver  an  address  upon  the  imperative 
need  of  public  education  in  this  State,  I  felt  very  highly 
gratified.  There  has  grown  up  in  this  State  in  certain 
circles  an  idea  that  the  men  of  wealth  and  those  en- 
gaged in  commerce  are  opposed  to,  or  at  least  are  not 
enthusiastic  upon  the  subject  of,  universal  education. 


132  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Your  invitation  denies  this  suggestion,   and  I  was, 
therefore,  much  gratified." 

Addressing  himself  particularly  to  his  position  on  the 
education  of  the  negro,  he  said: 

"I  am  perfectly  aware  that  there  are  men,  good  men, 
and  many  of  them,  who  think  that  the  experiment  of 
educating  the  negro  has  been  a  failure.  ...  I  find 
in  the  State  men  who  think  that  the  negro  has  gone 
backward  rather  than  forward  and  that  education  is 
injurious  to  him.  Have  these  men  forgotten  that  the 
negro  was  well  educated  before  the  war?  Do  they  not 
recall  that  he  was  trained  in  those  things  essential  for 
his  life  work?  He  has  been  less  educated  since  the  war 
than  before.  It  is  true  that  he  has  been  sent  to  school, 
but  his  contact  with  the  old  planter  and  with  the  ac- 
complished and  elegant  wife  of  that  planter  has  been 
broken.  This  contact  was  in  itself  a  better  education 
than  he  can  receive  from  the  public  schools,  but  shall 
we,  for  this  reason,  say  that  he  is  incapable  of  training? 
Ought  we  not,  on  the  contrary,  to  study  the  conditions 
and  realize  that  the  training  which  he  needs  has  not 
been  given  to  him  since  the  war  in  like  manner  that 
it  was  before?" 

Hostility  to  Aycock's  educational  policy  became 
particularly  intense  in  the  eastern  counties  where  the 
negroes  form  a  large  percentage  of  the  population. 
The  following  incident,  which  occurred  in  Bertie 
County,  might  have  occurred  in  any  of  the  eastern 
counties.  We  incorporate  it  as  related  by  a  prominent 
banker  of  the  town  of  Windsor. 

"On  April  6,  1903,  Governor  Aycock  came  to  Wind- 
sor for  the  twofold  purpose  of  addressing  the  Odd  Fel- 
lows and  of  making  a  speech  in  defence  of  his  adminis- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  133 

tration,  especially  his  policy  regarding  education.  It 
is  well  remembered  that  in  some  sections  of  the  State, 
and  this  was  one  of  them,  Governor  Aycock,  because 
of  his  determined  stand  on  this  subject,  had  been 
unfavorably  criticised.  The  people  had  forgotten  his 
promise,  made  before  election,  that  educational  oppor- 
tunities should  be  increased;  or  they  regarded  it  differ- 
ently from  what  they  did  before  the  campaign.  Their 
temper  was  far  from  serene.  However,  when  it  was 
advertised  that  the  Governor  would  be  here  and  speak 
in  defence  of  his  policy  a  great  crowd  came  to  hear  him. 
The  crowd  was  so  large  that  the  courthouse  was  in- 
sufficient to  accommodate  it,  and  the  speaking  was  held 
in  open  air.  It  was  my  privilege  and  pleasure  to 
present  the  speaker.  He  went  at  once  into  the  discus- 
sion of  his  subject,  reminded  the  people  of  his  pre- 
election promise,  declared  that  he  had  made  it  in  all 
sincerity  and  candor,  and  repeated  that  it  was  his  fixed 
and  unalterable  purpose  to  carry  it  out  literally.  He 
got  hold  of  the  crowd  at  once  and  for  more  than  two 
hours  held  its  closest  attention.  The  effect  was  wonder- 
ful. His  perfect  honesty  and  sincerity,  his  utter  lack 
of  sham  and  pretence,  won  completely,  and  the  opposi- 
tion melted  away  like  dew  before  the  rising  sun.  I  had 
heard  him  before;  I  heard  him  afterward;  but  never  so 
effectively.  Everybody  went  away  in  love  with  him 
and  in  thorough  sympathy  and  accord  with  his  ad- 
ministration. Never  from  that  day  have  I  heard  any 
man  in  Bertie  County  speak  of  him  but  in  praise  and 
admiration." 

Opposition  to  the  education  of  the  negro  took  the 
form  of  a  demand  that  the  Constitution  be  amended  so 
as  to  provide  for  a  distribution  of  school  taxes  to  each 
race  on  a  basis  of  what  each  paid.  Bills  providing  for 
the  submission  of  such  an  amendment  to  the  people 
were  introduced  in  both  houses  of  the  Legislature  of 


134  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

1901.  "The  manifest  purpose  of  this  proposed  amend- 
ment," writes  Hon.  H.  G.  Connor,  who  was  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Education  in  the  Lower  House, 
"was  to  restrict  the  opportunity  for  the  negro  to  become 
educated  and  qualify  himself  as  a  voter.  Governor 
Aycock  in  the  most  unmistakable  terms  stated  to  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature  that,  while  he  would  not  at- 
tempt unduly  to  influence  their  action,  he  should  regard 
the  adoption  of  such  an  amendment,  or  the  enactment 
of  such  legislation,  as  a  violation  of  his  pledge  to  the 
people  and  of  the  plighted  faith  of  his  party;  and  he 
went  so  far  as  to  declare  that  in  such  an  event  he  would 
resign  his  office  and  retire  to  private  life." 

His  decided  stand,  supported  by  Judge  Connor  and 
other  leaders  of  the  Legislature,  prevented  the  bills 
ever  coming  to  a  vote  and  the  matter  was  settled  for  a 
time.  But  it  would  not  down,  and  during  the  summer 
of  1902  several  county  conventions  declared  in  favor 
of  such  a  division  of  the  school  taxes.  Among  these 
was  Aycock's  own  county  of  Wayne.  But  Aycock, 
entrenched  in  what  he  believed  to  be  the  right  and  just 
position,  stood  firm.  The  most  powerful  passage  in 
his  message  to  the  Legislature  of  1903  is  devoted  to  a 
discussion  of  this  question.  But  for  these  instructions 
of  the  county  conventions,  he  said,  he  would  "make 
no  mention  of  any  race  question."  He  called  atten- 
tion to  the  passages  on  this  subject  in  his  Speech  of 
Acceptance,  in  his  Inaugural  Address,  in  his  campaign 
speeches,  and  in  the  platforms  of  both  parties.  "It 
appears,"  said  he,  "that  both  parties  represented  in 
your  Honorable  Body  are  pledged  to  at  least  a  four 
months'  school  in  every  school  district  in  the  State  and 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  135 

this,  of  course,  includes  the  negro  districts."  He 
demonstrated  that  the  education  of  the  negro  tended 
to  decrease  crime.  He  declared:  "It  must  be  mani- 
fest that  such  a  provision  as  this  is  an  injustice  to  the 
negro  and  injurious  to  us.  No  reason  can  be  given  for 
dividing  the  school  fund  according  to  the  proportion 
paid  by  each  race  which  would  not  equally  apply  to  a 
division  of  the  taxes  paid  by  each  race  on  every  other 
subject."  Finally,  the  adoption  of  such  an  amendment 
would  endanger  the  Suffrage  Amendment.  Calling 
attention  to  a  decision  of  the  Federal  Court  in  Ken- 
tucky that  such  a  division  of  the  school  fund  was  un- 
constitutional because  it  was  prohibited  by  the  Four- 
teenth Amendment,  he  said: 

"It  seems  to  me  that  this  opinion  is  right,  and  if  it  is, 
the  proposed  amendment  would  be  declared  unconsti- 
tutional, and  the  Suffrage  Amendment  which  we  have 
adopted,  and  which  promises  so  much  to  the  State, 
would  undoubtedly  follow  in  its  wake.  The  strength 
of  our  present  amendment  lies  in  the  fact  that  after  1908 
it  provides  an  educational  qualification,  and  the  courts 
will  go  far  toward  sustaining  a  provision  of  this  nature 
when  the  State  is  endeavoring  to  educate  all  her  chil- 
dren, but  if  it  should  be  made  to  appear  to  the  Court 
that  in  connection  with  our  disfranchisement  of  the 
negro  we  had  taken  pains  for  providing  to  keep  him  in 
ignorance,  then  both  amendments  would  fall  together. 

"The  amendment  proposed  is  unjust,  unwise  and 
unconstitutional.  It  would  wrong  both  races,  would 
bring  our  State  into  the  condemnation  of  a  just  opinion 
elsewhere,  and  would  mark  us  as  a  people  who  have 
turned  backward.  .  .  .  Let  us  not  seek  to  be  the 
first  State  in  the  Union  to  make  the  weak  man  help- 
less.    This  would  be  a  leadership  that  would  bring  us 


136  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

no  honor  but  much  shame.  .  .  .  Let  us  be  done 
with  this  question,  for  while  we  discuss  it  the  white 
children  of  the  State  are  growing  up  in  ignorance." 

Aycock's  opposition  to  the  measure  determined  its 
fate.  Defeated  in  1901  and  in  1903,  it  reappeared  in 
1905.  But  Aycock's  appeal  to  the  people's  sense  of 
right  and  justice  had  found  a  responsive  chord;  the 
amendment  could  not  muster  a  corporal's  guard  in 
1905,  and  since  then  has  not  been  considered  even  so 
much  as  in  the  list  of  debatable  questions  in  North 
Carolina. 

It  is  too  early  to  estimate  the  results  of  Aycock's 
educational  policy.  We  can  merely  point  out  a  few 
simple  facts  which  speak  for  themselves.  When  Ay- 
cock  came  in  1904  to  review  the  work  of  his  adminis- 
tration, referring  to  the  requirement  of  the  Constitu- 
tion for  a  four  months'  school  in  every  district  in  the 
State,  he  was  able  to  say: 

"Too  long  deferred,  to  the  grievous  injury  of  the 
State,  her  peace,  her  prosperity  and  happiness,  we  have 
under  this  administration  successfully  met  this  require- 
ment. The  patriotic  legislatures  chosen  by  the  people 
have  made  provision  for  it,  and  the  executive  officers, 
under  the  lead  of  our  admirable  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction,  have  carried  the  provisions  of  the 
law  into  effect.  To-day  we  can  boast  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  the  State  that  we  have  redeemed  our 
pledge,  kept  faith  with  the  people,  and  made  provision 
for  all  the  children.  If  the  child  is  blind,  we  have 
teachers  ready  to  open  his  eyes.  If  he  is  deaf,  he  can 
be  taught  to  speak.  If  he  is  friendless  and  poor,  the 
schoolhouse  door  stands  wide  open  to  shed  its  genial 
warmth  upon  him." 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  137 

In  bringing  this  chapter  to  a  close  we  cannot  do 
better  than  to  quote  a  paragraph  from  the  address  of 
Mr.  E.  C.  Brooks,  President  of  the  North  Carolina 
Teachers'  Assembly,  in  presenting  for  the  Assembly 
to  the  State  a  portrait  of  Hon.  James  Y.  Joyner.  Re- 
viewing the  work  of  the  decade  from  1902  to  1912,  Mr. 
Brooks  said: 

"  It  is  so  easy  to-day  to  vote  a  tax  for  schools,  erect  a 
new  building,  and  organize  a  group  of  teachers,  that  the 
younger  generation  may  sometimes  fail  to  appreciate 
what  this  decade  really  means,  and  the  part  it  actually 
plays  in  our  recent  rapid  development. 
Under  ten  years  of  wise  leadership,  public-school  ex- 
penditures have  increased  nearly  threefold.  One  month 
has  been  added  to  the  average  school  term  and  over 
1,200  school  districts  levy  a  special  tax  for  school  pur- 
poses. Moreover,  the  amount  raised  by  local  taxation 
alone  in  these  districts  is  greater  than  the  total  amount 
expended  in  all  the  rural  districts  ten  years  ago.  School 
property  has  increased  in  valuation  nearly  threefold. 
City  school  property  alone  is  to-day  double  the  value 
of  the  total  school  property  of  a  decade  ago.  More 
than  3,000  school  buildings  have  been  erected.  The 
average  salary  of  teachers  has  increased  more  than  50 
per  cent,  and  there  are  3,500  more  teachers  employed 
to-day  than  ten  years  ago.  .  .  .  Both  enrolment 
and  average  [daily]  attendance  of  pupils  show  a  decided 
gain.  Ten  years  ago  .  .  .  less  than  500  libraries 
were  to  be  found  among  the  10,000  schools.  To-day 
nearly  3,000  libraries  are  at  the  service  of  the  rural 
children  and  nearly  300,000  volumes  are  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  teachers.  .  .  .  The  general  tax  rate 
has  been  increased  from  18  cents  to  20  cents,  thus 
increasing  the  school  fund  at  least  $350,000.  More- 
over the  teachers  of  the  State  have  been  recognized  as 
a  body  of  professional  workers  and  given  representation 


138  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

on  the  State  Board,  in  managing  the  high  schools,  and 
in  selecting  books  for  the  public  schools." 

The  net  result  of  all  this  work  has  been  that  during 
the  decade  from  1900  to  1910,  the  percentage  of  illiter- 
acy among  the  whites  of  North  Carolina,  over  ten  years 
of  age,  has  been  reduced  from  19.4  to  12.3;  among  the 
negroes  from  47.6  to  31.9;  and  among  both  from  28.7 
to  18.5.  Though  the  States  of  Georgia,  Alabama, 
Arkansas,  and  Oklahoma  show  a  larger  decrease  in 
illiteracy  among  the  negroes,  no  State  in  the  entire 
Union  shows  so  large  a  decrease  in  illiteracy  among  the 
whites  as  North  Carolina. 

But  more  important  than  all  else  is  that  which  these 
statistics  hint  at,  but  cannot  adequately  express  —  i.e., 
the  change  —  rather  let  us  be  exact  in  our  language, 
the  revolution  in  public  sentiment  toward  the  great 
problems  of  universal  education. 

This  revolution  can  be  traced  in  no  small  degree  to 
the  momentum  which  Aycock  gave  to  the  cause,  not 
only  in  North  Carolina,  but  throughout  the  entire 
South.  We  would  lay  no  claim  to  all  the  credit  of  this 
marvelous  work  for  him,  indeed,  he  himself  would 
have  been  the  first  to  reject  the  suggestion  of  the  idea. 
Nevertheless,  we  cannot  overlook  the  fact  that  during 
the  four  years  in  which  this  momentum  was  gathering 
force  he  was  the  leader  of  the  State  which  was  itself  the 
leader  of  the  South.  In  this  work,  to  quote  Mr. 
Brooks  again: 

"Three  names  must  forever  be  associated  together 
and  if  the  State  in  the  long  line  of  coming  ages  is  to 
reap   the  benefits   that   surely   must   come  from   the 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  139 

government  of  cultivated  minds,  if  talent  is  constantly 
springing  up  on  our  barren  hillsides  and  finding  an 
avenue  through  our  schools  to  the  broader  theatre  of 
life  where  great  affairs  are  conducted  by  able  men,  then 
the  works  of  Joyner,  Aycock,  and  M elver  shall  be  a 
perpetual  blessing  upon  all  subsequent  generations," 


CHAPTER  IX 

aycock's  ideals  of  citizenship  and 
public  service 

THE  best  phrase  Mr.  Bryan  has  given  us, 
and  one  of  the  best  any  American  has  orig- 
inated, is  that  in  which  he  describes  a  public 
official  who  uses  his  office  for  personal  ends  as  "an 
embezzler  of  power." 

The  idea  involved  is  one  that  cannot  be  too  strongly 
or  too  persistently  emphasized.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
a  man  who  uses  the  privilege  either  of  voting  or  office- 
holding  for  personal  gain  —  gain  of  money  or  personal 
advancement  or  what  not  —  is  an  "embezzler  of 
power."  The  State  does  not  give  the  right  of  suffrage 
to  a  man  as  a  present  for  him  "to  have  and  to  hold"  as 
he  might  a  piece  of  ordinary  property.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  right  to  vote  is  a  trust  and  a  privilege.  The 
ballot  is  simply  the  symbol  of  a  power  which  long  genera- 
tions of  martyrs  and  patriots  have  fought  to  secure  for 
the  common  man  in  the  belief  that  he  would  use  it  as 
a  weapon  of  the  public  good.  The  voter  is  the  inheritor 
of  the  accumulated  political  wealth  of  all  past  time, 
and  he  holds  this  treasure  not  in  fee-simple,  but  as  a 
guardian  —  for  his  fellows  and  for  the  future. 

And  if  this  is  true  of  the  citizen,  how  much  truer  is  it 
of  the  public  official  —  he  whom  all  the  people  have 

140 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  141 

selected  as  the  man  of  all  men  to  whom  they  can 
entrust  a  power  and  a  treasure  in  which  they  are  all  in- 
terested, making  him  indeed  a  trustee  for  the  common 
weal.  This  was  Aycock's  view  of  office.  He  would  no 
more  have  thought  of  using  his  power  as  Governor,  a 
power  which  he  had  sworn  to  use  only  for  the  public 
good  as  God  gave  him  to  see  it  —  he  would  no  more 
have  thought  of  using  this  power  for  personal  aggran- 
dizement than  he  would  have  thought,  had  he  held  the 
position  of  bank  cashier,  of  taking  the  funds  of  the  de- 
positors for  his  own  use.  Highly  significant  is  this 
incident  recorded  among  others  in  a  number  of  remin- 
iscences sent  us  by  Col.  P.  M.  Pearsall,  Governor 
Aycock's  close  personal  friend,  and  for  four  years  his 
private  secretary:  "I  never  had  but  one  experience 
with  Governor  Aycock  which  came  near  approaching  a 
disagreeable  one.  It  was  my  invariable  custom,  when  he 
was  at  home,  to  walk  with  him  from  the  office  to  the 
Mansion  every  afternoon.  I  recollect  one  afternoon, 
toward  the  close  of  his  administration,  we  were  walking 
along  together  and  were  discussing  the  appointment  of 
some  one  (I  do  not  now  remember  whom)  to  fill  some 
small,  unimportant  office.  I  suggested  a  man,  saying 
that  he  was  thoroughly  qualified  in  every  respect,  that 
the  geographical  location  was  a  happy  one,  and  added 
besides  all  that,  that  the  Governor  was  soon  to  go  out 
of  office,  and  we  could  not  tell  what  might  happen  in 
the  future,  and  the  appointment  would  be  a  good  one 
with  reference  to  his  future.  Thereupon,  he  stopped 
abruptly,  caught  me  sharply  by  the  shoulder,  and  with 
considerable  emphasis  and  meaning  in  his  voice,  told  me 
that  he  was  sorry  that  I  had  ever  had   any   such   a 


142  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

thought;  that  he  demanded  that  I  should  never  recom- 
mend, suggest,  or  advise  that  he  should  do  anything  with 
reference  to  his  own  future;  that  he  had  not  been 
prompted  by  any  such  motive  in  anything  that  he  had 
heretofore  done,  and  that  he  was  going  to  follow  this 
policy  to  the  end.  I  assured  him,  which  was  true, 
that  that  really  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever  thought 
of  his  future  with  reference  to  any  act  of  his  while  he 
was  Governor." 

The  whole  character  of  Aycock,  the  public  official, 
comes  out  in  this  incident.  To  him  grafting  is 
grafting  —  or  worse  —  whether  one  abuses  the  sacred 
trust  of  officeholding  in  order  to  get  gain  directly  in  the 
shape  of  money  or  property  or  to  get  gain  indirectly  by 
buying  future  support  by  appointments  or  building  up 
a  machine  for  one's  personal  advancement.  In  July, 
1911,  hearing  the  rumor  (which  afterward  proved  to  be 
unfounded)  that  a  man  he  had  appointed  solicitor  was 
angered  at  Aycock's  attitude  in  a  legal  proceeding  and 
had  said  that  but  for  the  solicitorship  appointment  he 
would  support  another  Senatorial  candidate,  Aycock 
wrote  him:  "I  want  to  say  in  all  sincerity  that  I  do 
not  believe,  if  that  is  your  feeling,  that  you  ought  to 
support  me.  Men  owe  higher  duties  to  their  country 
than  they  do  to  personal  friendships.  I  am  writing  this 
in  perfect  good  feeling  and  with  the  sincere  desire  to  free 
you  from  the  slightest  embarrassment  in  the  premises." 

It  was  with  deep  sincerity  that  Aycock  in  his  last 
prepared  speech  referred  to  his  love  for  North  Carolina, 
the  State  of  his  birth,  "in  whose  soil  my  body  will  rest 
when  I  have  crossed  over  the  river"  —  as  it  did  before 
the  words  were  printed  —  and  added: 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  148 

"  I  have  not  always  served  her  wisely,  but  I  can  look 
the  entire  body  of  her  people  in  the  face  to-night  and  I 
can  declare  that  I  have  ever  served  her  zealously  and 
with  no  thought  as  to  the  possible  effect  of  my  course 
upon  my  career.  I  have  held  her  highest  office,  and 
under  God  I  assert  to-night  that  I  never  said  a  word  or 
did  a  deed  during  the  entire  four  years  of  my  term  of 
office  with  any  view  to  my  personal  aggrandizement. 
I  never  sought  to  build  up  a  personal  or  factional  ma- 
chine and  I  never  endeavored  to  tie  men  to  me  by  any 
sense  of  obligation  by  reason  of  favors  done  by  me  for 
them,  for  I  did  no  man  any  favor  as  Governor,  but  I 
earnestly  sought  to  do  every  man  the  right  of  equal 
and  exact  justice." 

Aycock's  ideals  of  public  service  and  political  integ- 
rity also  came  out  strikingly  in  the  conduct  of  his 
candidacy  for  the  United  State  Senate.  In  fact,  the 
letter  in  which  he  announced  that  he  would  be  a  can- 
didate is  so  characteristic  and  strikes  so  high  and  fine  a 
note,  that  we  may  not  unfittingly  introduce  it  just  at 
this  Doint: 

Raleigh,  N.  C,  May  20,  1911 
Col.  Nathan  B.  Whitfield, 

Kinston,  N.  C. 
Dear  Str:  I  have  given  much  consideration,  not 
only  to  your  letter,  but  to  the  numerous  letters  which  I 
have  received  along  the  same  line.  I  have  been  greatly 
gratified  to  find  that,  without  solicitation  or  expecta- 
tion on  my  part,  and  in  spite  of  my  previous  statement 
that  I  would  not  be  a  candidate  for  the  Senate,  great 
numbers  of  people  from  all  callings  in  the  State  have 
urged  me,  by  letter,  by  message  and  in  person,  to  re- 
consider the  question  and  become  a  candidate.  One 
who  has  been  in  public  life  and  who  has  enjoyed  the 
support  and  confidence  of  the  people  can  never  free 


144  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

himself  from  the  obligation  of  giving  due  consideration 
to  any  call  which  the  people  make  upon  him.  The 
requests  from  all  parts  of  the  State  and  from  people 
in  all  stations  of  life,  have  been  so  numerous  and  im- 
pressive as  to  lead  me  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  my 
duty  to  say  to  the  people  that,  if  chosen  by  the  Demo- 
cratic party  and  elected  by  the  Legislature,  I  shall  be 
glad  to  serve  North  Carolina  in  the  United  States 
Senate. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  enunciate  any  personal 
platform,  it  being  well  known  throughout  the  State 
that  I  have  always  stood  on  the  National  and  State 
Democratic  platforms  without  question,  believing  as  I 
do  that  the  assembled  wisdom  of  the  Democracy  of  the 
nation  and  State  is  far  greater  than  my  own.  I  shall 
make  no  campaign  looking  to  my  selection  for  the 
Senatorship.  My  financial  condition  is  such  that  it  is 
absolutely  essential  that  I  pursue  my  profession  as  a 
lawyer  with  unabated  energy  until  such  time  as  the 
people  shall  lay  other  duties  upon  me.  I  have  no 
money  to  spend  perfecting  an  organization,  and  if  I  had 
it,  I  am  convinced  that  the  greatest  evil  of  this  day, 
politically,  is  the  use  of  money  in  securing  nominations 
and  elections,  and  I  therefore  would  not  use  it  if  I  were 
able  to  command  a  fund  requisite  for  such  purpose.  In 
addition  to  this  reason  for  refusing  to  attempt  an  or- 
ganization in  behalf  of  my  candidacy,  I  have  a  feeling 
that  the  Senatorship  would  be  worthless  to  me  if  secured 
by  any  such  methods.  If  I  shall  go  to  the  Senate  I 
must  go  free  from  special  obligation  to  any  set  of  men, 
and  therefore,  under  equal  obligation  to  every  man. 
Going  to  the  Senate  in  this  way  would  put  me  in  a 
position  to  give  to  the  people  the  highest  service  of 
which  I  am  capable.  I  shall  therefore  entrust  my 
candidacy,  without  reservation,  to  the  people  of  the 
State,  and  shall  not  seek  to  shape  their  selection  by 
organization  or  by  personal  appeals  to  them. 

I  cannot  under  any  circumstances  enter  into  a  can- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  145 

vass  with  a  view  to  presenting  to  North  Carolinians 
my  own  deserts.  If  I  have  any,  they  are  known  to  the 
people  of  this  State,  and  they  know  best  whether  what- 
ever talent  I  have  is  likely  to  be  useful  to  them.  When 
the  time  comes  for  the  opening  of  the  political  campaign 
I  shall  next  year,  as  in  all  election  years  heretofore, 
tender  my  services  to  the  party  organization  to  do 
battle  in  behalf  of  Democratic  principles.  The 
speeches  which  I  shall  then  make  will  be  made  in  the 
service  of  the  Democratic  party  and  without  regard  to 
their  possible  effect  upon  my  own  personal  interests. 
If  at  the  end  of  the  campaign,  the  people  select  any 
other  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate,  I  shall 
cheerfully  acquiesce  in  the  result.  Public  service  when 
honestly  rendered  is  the  most  difficult  and  painful  of 
all  service,  and  the  satisfaction  to  be  derived  therefrom 
becomes  manifest  to  one  only  after  the  service  has  been 
rendered  in  fidelity  to  the  trust  of  the  people,  and  when 
in  private  life  he  can  receive  the  just  praise  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  for  faithfulness  to  their  interests.  I  have 
served  the  people  of  this  State  once  in  high  office.  I  have 
enjoyed  since  then  the  constant  and  increasing  con- 
fidence of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  in  the  integrity 
of  my  purpose  when  Governor,  and  the  appreciation 
which  they  have  since  shown  me  of  the  service  which  I 
was  then  able  to  do  for  the  State.  It  is  with  a  like 
hope  that  I  permit  myself  to  announce  to  the  people 
through  you,  my  candidacy  for  the  United  States 
Senate. 

Very   truly   yours, 

C.  B.  Aycock. 

In  the  speech  he  had  prepared  for  delivery  April 
12th,  (and  which  is  published  in  another  part  of  this 
volume),  he  again  emphasizes  his  strong  warning  as  to 
the  danger  of  money  in  politics;  but  this  was  no  new 
belief  with  him.     He  had  always  been  proud  to  claim 


146  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

that  "the  nomination  and  election  to  the  Governor- 
ship didn't  cost  me  one  dollar."  Any  interference  with 
the  free  expression  of  the  people's  will,  whether  by  use 
of  money  or  machinery,  Aycock  regarded  as  doing 
violence  to  the  fundamental  principle  of  democracy, 
his  faith  in  which  was  almost  religious  in  its  intensity. 
In  a  letter  to  Mr.  W.  T.  Parker,  November  20,  1911,  he 
said : 

"  I  am  not  depending  in  my  campaign  upon  a  pledged 
support,  and  not  even  upon  an  organized  support.  It 
is  strange  after  all  these  years  of  free  government,  that 
there  should  be  an  idea  current,  and  even  at  times 
overwhelming,  that  men  should  select  themselves  for 
high  public  station.  It  is  the  right  of  the  people  to 
make  this  selection.  If  they  are  to  be  told  by  a  thou- 
sand men  in  North  Carolina  for  whom  they  are  to  vote, 
I  am  certain  that  they  will  not  vote  for  me.  I  am  per- 
fectly candid  in  saying  that  I  have  no  desire  to  go  to  the 
United  States  Senate  if  I  have  to  be  sent  there  by  the 
efforts  of  a  few  men.  At  the  proper  time  I  expect  to 
canvass  the  State,  but  in  the  canvass  I  shall  seek  to  ex- 
ploit Democracy  instead  of  myself,  and  I  shall  certainly 
not  seek  to  injure  the  other  candidates  who  have  hereto- 
fore enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  Democracy  of  the 
State." 

The  same  day  he  wrote  Mr.  Orlando  Elam  of  Shelby, 
as  follows: 

"  I  want  to  go  to  the  Senate,  but  I  want  to  go  as  the 
choice  of  all  the  people  and  not  to  secure  the  nomination 
by  machinery,  organized  in  my  behalf,  and  to  be  used 
after  my  election  to  dictate  to  me  how  I  shall  serve  the 
State.  If  an  organization  nominates  me,  an  organiza- 
tion will  attempt  to  run  me,  and  I  shall  be  compelled 
to  be  unfaithful  either  to  the  organization  or  to  the 
people." 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  147 

To  Mr.  H.  G.  Connor,  Jr.,  he  wrote: 

"Besides  you  know  that  if  I  have  to  adopt  the  meth- 
ods which  I  condemn  in  order  to  go  to  the  Senate,  I  can 
stay  at  home  with  entire  cheerfulness.  If  I  go  to  the 
Senate,  I  am  going  there  with  the  support  of  a  majority 
of  the  people  and  with  the  good  will  of  the  balance  of 
them.  If  I  cannot  go  that  way  I  do  not  care  to  go  at 
all.  The  place  is  one  in  which  it  is  difficult  enough  to 
meet  the  just  expectations  of  the  people  when  one  en- 
joys their  entire  confidence.  These  are  not  platitudes; 
they  are  vital  facts,  and  I  am  going  to  live  up  to  them 
in  my  campaign.  My  faith  in  the  people  is  such  that  I 
am  confident  of  election  by  pursuing  these  methods. 
My  faith  in  God  is  sufficient  to  keep  me  from  violating 
my  convictions  if  I  lose  my  ambition  by  it." 

"I  regard  my  candidacy  as  a  duty  I  owe  the  State," 
Ayeock  said  to  Dr.  J.  Y.  Joyner  a  short  time  before  his 
death.  "Whether  I  am  defeated  or  not  doesn't  matter, 
if  I  can  only  establish  the  principle  that  a  man's  can- 
didacy should  be  conducted  without  money,  machinery, 
or  abuse  of  his  opponents."  The  last  political  letter 
he  ever  signed,  like  the  last  political  speech  he  ever 
prepared,  was  one  in  which  he  deprecated  attacks  on 
the  other  candidates.  In  July,  1911,  he  wrote  Mr. 
E.  B.  Grantham:  "I  regret  that  the  News  and  Observer 
has  had  anything  to  say  against  my  competitors.  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  success  of  any  man  for  the  Senate 
is  worth  the  danger  of  disintegrating  our  party  into 
personal  factions." 

It  should  also  be  said  that  Ayeock  as  a  candidate  for 
office  maintained  the  same  degree  of  delicacy  and  moral 
sensitiveness  which  he  had  shown  as  a  public  official. 
In   November,    1911,    a    committee    of    distinguished 


148  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Americans,  constituting  the  national  organization  for 
the  promotion  of  peace,  wished  to  have  him  speak 
in  some  of  the  great  cities  of  the  North  in  behalf  of  the 
Arbitration  Treaties  with  England  and  France.  At 
first  he  was  inclined  to  accept  the  offer,  but  later  wrote 
the  friend  through  whom  the  invitation  came: 

"  I  should  enjoy  making  these  speeches  if  I  thought  it 
were  proper  for  me  to  do  so,  but  I  am  a  candidate  for 
the  Senate  from  this  State,  and  I  do  not  think  that  I 
ought  to  make  speeches  which  are  paid  for,  even  to  the 
extent  of  expenses,  on  a  subject  which  I  might  hereafter 
have  to  act  upon  as  a  Senator.  I  am  not  laying  down 
a  rule  for  any  one  else,  and  I  do  not  wish  to  be  regarded 
as  a  crank  or  overly  squeamish  about  matters  of  this 
kind,  but  this  is  my  instinctive  feeling  about  the  matter 
and  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  act  upon  it." 

"I  shall  tell  the  people  in  my  April  12th  speech,"  he 
said  a  little  while  before  his  death,  "  that  I  shall  be  my 
own  campaign  manager,  because  if  another  man  ran 
my  campaign  for  me  he  would  want  to  run  me  after  the 
campaign  was  over." 

Aycock  was  an  intense  Democrat  in  the  party  sense, 
but  he  was  an  even  more  intense  Democrat  in  its  broader 
sense.  In  fact,  he  was  so  ardent  a  party  man  chiefly 
because  he  believed  as  strongly  as  Jefferson  himself 
in  Democracy,  the  absolute  rule  of  the  people,  and  be- 
lieved the  Democratic  Party  was  the  party  most  in 
accord  with  this  doctrine.  Introducing  William  J. 
Bryan,  in  Raleigh,  January  6,  1912,  he  said:  "There 
are  some  men  who  have  thought  that  there  is  a  likeness 
between  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  Mr.  Bryan,  and  there  is. 
They  are  both  Progressives,  but  Mr.  Roosevelt's  prog- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  149 

ress  is  toward  a  benevolent  government  of  the  people, 
while  Mr.  Bryan's  progress  is  toward  a  beneficent 
government  by  the  people.  Mr.  Roosevelt  wants  to 
govern  the  people  well.  Mr.  Bryan  wants  the  people 
to  govern  wisely.  And  these  two  men  are  typical  of 
the  two  parties  of  which  each  is  the  most  distinguished 
private." 

He  expressed  the  same  idea  in  more  popular  fashion 
at  a  Democratic  rally  in  Baltimore  as  seen  in  the  fol- 
lowing newspaper  clipping: 

"The  Republicans  think  we  need  a  ruler;  the  Demo- 
crats think  we  need  a  servant.  The  people  should  be 
trusted  to  govern  themselves,  and  not  to  be  ruled  . 
.  .  I  am  afraid  of  any  man  who  rules.  I  won't  be 
ruled  by  anybody.  (Applause.)  I  take  that  back,  I 
am  married.  (Laughter.)  But  I  won't  allow  any  man 
to  rule  me."     (Storms  of  applause.) 

Nevertheless  Aycock  was  not  the  man  to  go  up  and 
down  the  State  prating  about  his  love  for  the  "dear 
people."  His  candid  spirit  also  rings  out  in  the  con- 
clusion of  a  letter  to  his  friend  and  kinsman,  George 
Rountree,  August  25,  1910  —  and  we  publish  the  whole 
letter  because  of  the  general  interest  in  the  subject  to 
which  it  refers  —  a  contest  before  the  State  Democratic 
Executive  Comittee  over  a  Congressional  nomination: 

"You  will  see  from  the  papers  the  action  of  the  Com- 
mittee. I  should  not  resist  the  conclusion  that  the 
Convention  which  nominated  Clark  was  not  regular, 
and  I  am  much  struck  with  the  statement  contained  in 
the  draft  of  our  report,  which  of  course  you  know  was 
drawn  by  Governor  Jar  vis,  which  insists  that  the  title 


150  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

of  the  Democratic  nominee  ought  to  be  so  clear  as  not 
to  admit  of  debate.  Certainly  the  nomination  of 
either  Clark  or  Godwin  is  doubtful.  Under  these 
circumstances,  the  only  recourse  is  to  the  people,  the 
source  of  all  power.  In  these  days  of  demagogy,  I 
sometimes  feel  tempted  not  to  use  the  expression  which 
closed  my  last  sentence,  because  I  do  get  vexed  with 
the  constant  harping  upon  'the  people.'  But  after  all, 
it  is  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  our  government,  and 
one  which  I  have  always  accepted  as  true  that  the 
people  ought  to  govern  themselves  and  not  be  gov- 
erned." 

Despite  his  faith  in  Democracy,  Aycock  was 
not  known  to  favor  the  advanced  plans  for  the 
initiative  and  referendum.  He  believed  direct  legis- 
lation was  coming,  he  said;  but  he  did  not  expect  it  to 
accomplish  all  its  advocates  expected  of  it.  Perhaps 
his  distrust  grew  in  part  out  of  his  own  experience  and  a 
possible  conviction  that  if  the  people  instead  of  using 
the  slower  machinery  of  representative  government, 
had  been  able  to  act  directly  and  impulsively  with  re- 
gard to  his  educational  policy  while  he  was  Governor, 
he  might  never  have  succeeded  in  his  great  task. 

But  while  Aycock  had  no  patience  with  demagoguery 
he  had,  on  the  other  hand,  no  patience  with  the  idea 
held  by  some,  as  he  expressed  it,  that  "it  is  a  certain 
mark  of  statemanship  to  be  at  odds  with  the  people"; 
and  no  sort  of  aristocracy  appealed  to  him.  He  al- 
ways opposed  a  property  qualification  for  voting,  and 
in  a  letter  to  Mr.  John  Wilber  Jenkins,  formerly  of 
North  Carolina,  but  now  of  Baltimore,  he  opposed  the 
Maryland  amendment  for  negro  disfranchisement  on 
this  ground: 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  151 

"  I  find  your  letter  here  upon  my  return .  I  would  very 
gladly  give  you  the  interview  because  the  Amendment 
has  been  of  great  service  in  North  Carolina.  As  I 
understand  it,  your  amendment  has  a  property  quali- 
fication, to  which  I  am  unalterably  opposed.  I  am, 
therefore,  debarred  from  taking  any  part  whatever  in 
your  fight  in  Maryland  this  fall.  It  may  be  that  the 
amendment  which  you  had  up  before  had  this  in  it,  but 
if  it  did,  I  was  not  aware  of  it.  I  am  among  the  num- 
ber who  still  believe  that  property  has  too  many  rights 
and  people  too  few." 

To  make  a  purer  democracy,  to  broaden  human  op- 
portunity, and  to  strengthen  the  rights  of  the  common 
man  —  this,  we  are  justified  in  saying,  was  the  duty  of 
the  leader  and  the  law -maker  as  Ay  cock  saw  it;  but  in 
working  to  this  end  he  would  have  avoided  arraying 
class  against  class,  labor  against  capital,  or  resorting  to 
the  arts  of  the  demagogue.  Just  before  his  death  a 
friend  brought  to  his  attention  a  quotation  from  Mr. 
Junius  Parker's  1910  alumni  address  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  North  Carolina.  Aycock  expressed  himself  as  so 
much  pleased  with  the  paragraph  that  he  announced 
his  determination  to  use  it  in  his  April  12th  speech. 
And  just  as  we  may  find  in  the  last  sentence  of  his  letter 
to  Mr.  Jenkins  —  "Property  has  too  many  rights  and 
people  too  few  "  —  an  indication  as  to  what  he  re- 
garded as  the  present  duty  of  the  leader  in  our  democ- 
racy, so  we  may  find  in  this  quotation  from  Mr.  Parker's 
speech  the  spirit  in  which  he  believed  a  leader  of  the 
people  should  work. 

"Power  of  any  sort,  whether  of  wealth  or  intellect 
or  education,  or  social  position,  or  accident,  brings 
duty  —  the  duty  of  truth,  the  duty  of  fairness,  the 


152  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK 

duty  of  courtesy,  the  duty  of  sanity;  a  duty  to  the  weak 
not  to  oppress  them;  a  duty  to  the  credulous,  not  to 
mislead  them;  a  duty  to  one's  friends,  not  to  flatter  or 
cajole  them;  a  duty  to  one's  enemies,  not  to  malign 
them;  a  duty  to  the  rich,  not  to  be  a  sycophant;  a  duty 
to  the  poor,  not  to  be  a  demagogue." 


CHAPTER  X 

AYCOCK    THE    SOUTHERNER  —  HIS    ATTITUDE 
TOWARD    THE    NEGRO    AND    TOWARD    SEC- 
TIONAL ISSUES 


T 


1HERE  are  but  two  Americans  who  tower  head 
and  shoulders  above  all  their  fellows,"  Ay  cock 
remarked  the  Sunday  before  his  death,  "and 
they  are  George  Washington  and  Robert  E.  Lee." 
Lee  was  his  ideal  man,  and  he  possessed  Lee's  distin- 
guishing quality  —  a  passionate  love  of  the  South  com- 
bined with  entire  freedom  from  sectional  narrowness  or 
bitterness.  He  never  fought  over  the  issues  of  the 
war.  He  was  too  much  absorbed  in  practical,  helpful 
things.  He  accepted  the  Appomattox  arbitrament  of 
the  sword  as  he  accepted  the  law  of  gravitation,  and 
thought  it  as  useless  to  fulminate  about  its  righteous- 
ness. He  expressed  his  own  view  briefly,  and  let  the 
matter  drop.  As  he  said  in  his  speech  in  New  York 
City  in  1901:  "There  are  two  subjects  on  which  I 
take  it  there  can  be  no  debate  —  that  the  States  had 
the  right  to  secede  in  1861,  and  that  they  no  longer  have 
that  right." 

Two  of  Aycock's  brothers  were  Confederate  soldiers ; 
his  father  in  the  State  Senate  was  one  of  the  stanchest 
defenders  of  the  Confederate  Government;  and  it  was 
not  without  reason  that  Dr.  R.  T.  Vann  in  the  memorial 

153 


154  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

services  in  Raleigh  referred  eloquently  to  Aycock's 
love  for  the  aged  heroes  "who  once  wore  the  gray  of 
their  country,  and  now  wear  the  gray  of  God."  Only  a 
day  or  so  later  a  poorly  clad  workingman  from  Golds- 
boro  came  into  the  writer's  office,  told  of  Aycock's 
kindness  to  the  very  poor  people  of  Goldsboro,  and 
added,  "And  as  for  the  old  Confederate  soldiers,  he 
just  couldn't  do  enough  for  them!"  How  fervidly  in- 
deed did  Aycock  cherish  the  traditions  of  the  South  was 
illustrated  by  a  passage  in  a  jury  speech  delivered  but 
a  few  months  before  his  death,  where  he  illustrated 
some  points  with  a  reference  to  the  Civil  War : 

"Gentlemen  you  know  the  bitterness  of  this  great 
conflict  through  which  we  passed.  You  know  how 
these  North  Carolina  people  stood  here  at  home  and 
clamored  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  and  when 
the  hot-heads  wanted  to  secede  they  stood  off  and  said 
'No,  we  are  not  going  to  secede,'  and  voted  down  the 
convention.  You  know,  too,  when  one  clear  morning 
there  came  ringing  down  from  the  North  a  message 
from  Lincoln  in  which  he  called  for  volunteers  to  fight 
South  Carolina,  then  you  saw  a  whole  people  just  turn 
over  and  say:  'We  don't  want  war.  We  love  this 
Union.  It  is  ours.  Our  fathers  made  it.  They  cemented 
every  brick  of  the  foundation  with  their  own  blood. 
We  love  it  and  we  want  to  maintain  it,  but  if  we  have 
got  to  fight  we  are  not  going  to  fight  South  Carolinians, 
and  Georgians,  and  Mississippians,  and  Virginians.  We 
are  neighbors.  If  we  have  got  to  fight  we  will  fight 
some  folks  we  don't  know.'  Then  we  seceded  and 
went  out.  Then  followed  those  four  years.  They 
were  four  strenuous  years;  years  that  tried  men's  souls. 

"I  am  getting  old  now,  sirs,  but  I  wish  I  were  older. 
It  has  been  the  deprivation  of  my  life  that  I  haven't 
within  my  heart  and  memory  a  recollection  of  those 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  155 

great  days  which  glorified  humanity  and  made  the 
South  immortal." 

He  followed  this  utterance  with  a  tribute  to  the  mag- 
nanimity and  gentleness  of  Lee : 

"And  when  it  was  all  done  and  our  great  General 
surrendered  his  sword  at  Appomattox  and  went  back 
quietly  to  his  home  under  parole  from  that  gallant 
soldier.  General  Grant  —  God  keep  his  memory  green 
forever  for  his  nobility  of  conduct  on  this  occasion  — 
Lee  opened  a  college  and  called  the  boys  together, 
and  I  am  told  by  men  who  went  to  school  to  him 
that  in  his  mouth  there  was  never  one  word  about 
the  war,  and  that  no  man  ever  heard  him  utter  one 
single  word  of  reproach  to  the  Yankee.  Because  of 
Lee's  freedom  from  bitterness,"  Aycock  continued,  "  he 
has  won  the  esteem  of  all  men,  so  that  the  North  itself 
votes  him  into  the  Hall  of  Fame,  and  'Dixie'  has 
become  the  song  not  of  a  section,  but  of  the  nation." 

In  his  New  York  speech,  to  which  reference  has  al- 
ready been  made,  Aycock  gave  eloquent  utterance  to 
the  faith  that  was  in  him: 

"I  love  the  Union  and  its  flag.  This  country  is  my 
country.  I  am  a  North  Carolinian  and  you  dwell  in 
New  York,  but  we  are  all  citizens  of  the  United  States 
—  a  glorious  country,  a  great  flag,  the  emblem  of  all 
that  we  are  and  hope  to  be,  our  protection  in  war,  our 
guardian  in  peace,  our  hope  at  all  times  —  but  neither 
you  nor  others  will  expect  of  me  to  forget  the  deeds  of 
those  who  served  the  South.  We  shall  make  no  apolo- 
gies for  what  has  passed  in  our  lives  and  no  promises 
for  the  future.  We  love  the  heroic  deeds  of  those  who 
have  gone  before  us  and  who  have  demonstrated  the 
strength  of  Southern  character.       We  cannot  forget, 


156  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

and  will  not,  their  sufferings,  their  trials  and  their 
fidelity.  We  do  not  stop  to  ask  whether  they  were 
right  or  wrong.  We  merely  inquire  how  did  they  bear 
themselves  when  the  hour  of  peril  came,  and  when  we 
make  this  inquiry  we  are  proud  of  the  glorious  men  who 
made  the  charge  at  Gettysburg  and  laid  down  their 
arms  at  Appomattox." 

The  death  of  Worth  Bagley,  as  emblematic  of  the 
reunion  of  the  sections  and  the  patriotism  of  the  South, 
was  mentioned  by  Ay  cock  in  this  speech  and  frequently 
in  other  speeches.  The  following  almost  verbatim 
quotation,  from  his  speech  at  the  State  Fair  in  1902 
(from  notes  made  by  the  writer  during  its  delivery),  is 
pertinent  here: 

"And  with  our  educational  advance  will  come  a  twen- 
ty-fold industrial  development.  Nor  will  the  deeds  of 
our  fathers  be  forgotten  in  that  glorious  day.  From 
some  lowly  home  and  of  humble  parentage  will  come 
some  divinely  gifted  man  or  woman  to  take  up  the  histo- 
rian's pen  or  artist's  brush  or  sculptor's  chisel,  and  reveal 
the  history  of  our  Commonwealth.  Bich  material  will 
he  find  in  the  planting  of  the  first  English  colony  on 
Roanoke;  the  birth  of  Virginia  Dare,  the  first  Anglo- 
American;  the  expulsion  of  Seth  Sothel,  the  first 
American  uprising  against  a  tyrannical  Governor;  the 
Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence,  precursor  of 
that  at  Philadelphia;  the  battle  of  Moore's  Creek,  the 
first  victory  of  the  Revolution;  King's  Mountain  and 
Guilford,  terrible  blows  to  British  power.  And  richer 
material  will  he  find  in  the  sorrowful  withdrawal  from 
the  Union;  in  the  death  of  Wyatt,  the  first  martyr  of  the 
Lost  Cause;  in  the  immortal  charge  at  Gettysburg;  the 
last  stand  at  Appomattox,  the  return  of  the  defeated 
soldier  to  bring  order  out  of  the  chaos  and  ruin  envelop- 
ing his  home.    And  by  the  side  of  the  soldier,  he  will 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  157 

paint  the  soldier's  equal  —  the  plain  North  Carolina 
woman,  God  bless  her!  who  had  no  comrades  to  cheer 
her  and  no  martial  airs  to  inspire  her,  but  who  fed  and 
clothed  the  North  Carolina  soldiers  and  struggled 
alone  against  want  and  terror.  There  is  none  like  her! 
No  less  significant  will  be  the  picture  symbolic  of  our 
reunited  country  —  that  gallant  North  Carolina  youth 
who  fell  beneath  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  the  war  with 
Spain.  He  shall  be  painted,  not  as  he  was,  but  with 
the  sternness  of  the  Puritan  and  the  gayety  of  the  Cava- 
lier, and  in  colors  of  gray  fading  into  blue.  For  North 
and  South,  thank  God,  are  together  again  in  one  Union, 
and  it  is  for  us  to  make  our  own  State  the  greatest  of 
the  sisterhood." 


That  was  Aycock's  attitude.  He  loved  the  Union, 
was  proud  of  the  Union,  but  he  regarded  the  South's 
record  in  the  Civil  War  not  as  something  to  apologize 
for,  nor  yet  as  something  to  ignore  or  forget,  nor  yet 
as  something  the  South  alone  should  treasure  and  be 
proud  of  —  but  something  the  entire  reunited  nation 
should  be  proud  of,  even  as  it  is  already  proud  of  the 
incarnation  of  the  cause  in  the  immortal  Lee.  Per- 
haps never  in  his  life  did  Aycock  appear  to  better  ad- 
vantage than  in  his  speech  welcoming  President  Roose- 
velt at  the  Charleston  Exposition  in  1902,  his  address 
and  the  strikingly  dramatic  circumstances  under  which 
it  was  delivered  being  fully  recorded  in  the  second  part 
of  this  volume.  South  Carolina  never  forgot  that 
speech,  and  the  whole  State  loved  Aycock  ever  after. 
The  courage  and  manly  dignity  of  the  address  cap- 
tivated Northerners  and  Southerners  alike,  including 
the  impulsive  Roosevelt,  who  began  his  own  speech  by 
saying:     "There  is  but  one  complaint  I  have  to  make 


158  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

against  the  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  and  that  is, 
he  said  in  his  speech  so  many  good  things  that  I  wanted 
to  say  —  and  they  were  so  well  said  that  I  cannot  im- 
prove upon  them,  but  I  am  just  going  to  say  them  over 
again  anyway." 

It  is  not  eulogy,  but  truth,  to  say  that  Aycock  never 
sought  to  arouse  the  prejudices  of  his  hearers;  and  this 
was  true  of  him  with  regard  to  sectional  feeling.  He 
never  sought  to  make  merchandise  of  Southern  pa- 
triotism; and  he  expressed  himself  with  the  same  dig- 
nity and  sincerity  whether  he  was  in  the  North  or  the 
South.  If  anything,  he  talked  a  little  more  freely  in 
the  North.  He  once  told  this  story  of  his  trip  through 
Maine  in  1904 : 

"Among  the  first  appointments  I  had,"  said  he,  "was 
in  a  small  town  on  the  coast  of  Maine.  The  rain  was 
coming  down  in  cold,  clammy  sheets,  not  figuratively, 
but  literally;  I  was  blue,  homesick,  a  stranger  in  a 
strange  land,  and  about  as  cast  down  as  a  fellow  can 
get.  The  meeting  was  held  in  a  church,  and  when 
we  arrived,  a  few  scattering  friends  had  assembled  and 
deposited  their  dripping  umbrellas  in  the  entrance.  A 
good  brother  soon  opened  the  meeting  with  prayer  and 
then  read  from  Ecclesiastes :  'All  is  vanity,  saith  the 
preacher.'  It  just  seemed  to  me  that  he  was  trying  to 
see  how  bad  he  could  make  me  feel.  But  when  I  arose 
to  speak,  I  commenced  by  saying:  'Well,  if  I  were 
back  in  Wayne  County,  No'th  Ca'lina,  I'd  expect  the 
congregation  to  be  doing  just  like  you  are  doing  here  — 
everybody  settin'  on  the  back  seats.'  Whereupon  the 
people  moved  up  to  the  front,  but  I  was  feeling  so 
low-spirited  that  I  commenced  to  talk    about    the 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  159 

hardships  we  had  to  undergo  after  the  war,  and  while 
I  was  telling  about  our  worn,  footsore  and  bleeding 
soldiers  wending  their  way,  as  best  they  could,  to  their 
desolate  homes,  I  noticed  an  old  Yankee  veteran  just  in 
front  of  me  take  out  his  handkerchief,  blow  his  nose 
with  a  terrible  snort  and  wipe  his  eyes  at  the  same  time. 
Then  I  knew  I  had  'em  —  and  from  then  on,  I  forgot 
all  about  education  and  talked  Reconstruction  days 
to  this  audience  up  in  Maine  —  one  of  the  most  appre- 
ciative audiences  I  ever  addressed." 

Aycock's  attitude  toward  the  negro,  and  the  negro 
question,  has  already  been  indicated  by  the  chapters  on 
his  1898  and  1900  campaigns  and  his  administration  as 
Governor,  and  is  further  set  forth  in  his  speeches  pub- 
lished in  this  volume.  The  negroes  of  North  Carolina 
revere  Lincoln,  but  it  did  not  require  as  much  courage 
or  sacrifice  for  Lincoln  to  issue  his  Emancipation  Proc- 
lamation as  it  did  for  Aycock  to  stand  for  the  educa- 
tional rights  of  the  negro  during  his  administration  as 
Governor. 

His  object  was  simply  the  attainment  of  justice. 
The  hideous  injustice  to  the  white  race  involved  in  the 
negro's  political  power  was  a  thing  against  which  his 
whole  nature  revolted;  but  a  threatened  injustice  to  the 
negro  in  the  proposition  to  take  away  the  educational 
rights  of  the  now  disarmed  and  helpless  black  man  — 
this  stirred  him  just  as  deeply.  He  knew,  moreover, 
that  no  one  is  ever  really  profited  by  a  violation  of  jus- 
tice, and  that  the  justice  of  taking  the  ballot  from  the 
negro  was  a  good  thing  for  the  black  man,  and  the 
justice  of  giving  an  adequate  education  to  the  negro  a 
good  thing  for  the  white  man. 


160  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Aycock  believed  in  the  right  of  the  white  man  to 
rule  as  profoundly  as  he  believed  in  God.  He  knew 
that  the  instinct  of  race  is  divinely  implanted;  and  he 
could  not  understand  those  "advanced  Southerners" 
who  professed  to  believe  that  the  South's  intense  race 
feeling  was  engendered  in  large  measure  by  politicians. 
Of  one  such  writer  he  said:  "He  breathes  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  cloister.  He  does  not  know  men.  Even  in 
history,  his  specialty,  they  are  dim  forms  playing^on  an 
ideal  stage  and  not  men  of  blood  and  passions.  He 
does  not  understand  his  people.  He  sees  in  the  race 
antagonism  nothing  but  political  passion.  He  has  not 
read  aright  the  great  unconquerable  race  instinct. 
Politics  did  not  make  it,  politics  merely  seized  it  for  its 
purpose.  I  am  bound  to  admit  my  surprise  at  his 
real  ignorance  of  the  depth,  the  strength,  and  the  right- 
eousness of  the  white  man's  attitude  toward  the  negro. 
Probably  if  he  would  read  King  Edward's  speech  to 
Parliament  he  would  not  regard  his  own  folks  so  lightly 
and  hold  their  views  in  such  contempt.  In  substance 
King  Edward  says  in  reference  to  South  Africa,  '  My 
policy  toward  South  Africa  shall  be  one  of  equality  for 
whites  and  justice  to  the  blacks.'  A  superior  race  can 
occupy  no  other  attitude." 

From  this  letter  we  may  crystallize  Aycock's  two 
fundamental  doctrines  regarding  the  political  relations 
of  the  races:  (1)  The  white  man  must  rule.  (2) 
He  must  rule  in  righteousness.  The  second  proposition 
he  regarded  as  being  as  binding  as  the  first.  He  never 
forgot  the  principle  of  noblesse  oblige;  never  violated 
that  fine  definition  of  a  gentleman:  "The  weaker 
the  man  with  whom  he  has  to  deal  the  more  scru- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  161 

pulous  is  his  justice;  the  weaker  the  woman  with 
whom  he  has  to  deal  the  more  scrupulous  is  his  honor." 
The  principle  he  laid  down  in  his  Inaugural  Address, 
"It  is  true  that  a  superior  race  cannot  submit  to  the 
rule  of  a  weaker  without  injury;  it  is  also  true  in  the 
long  years  of  God  that  the  strong  cannot  oppress  the 
weak  without  destruction,"  was  but  the  same  to  which 
he  had  given  eloquent  utterance  in  his  Speech  of  Ac- 
ceptance while  the  fires  of  race  passion  burned  fiercest: 

"  If  we  fail  to  administer  equal  and  exact  justice  to 
the  negro  whom  we  deprive  of  suffrage,  we  shall  in 
the  fulness  of  time  lose  power  ourselves,  for  we  must 
know  that  the  God,  who  is  love,  trusts  no  people  with 
authority  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  them  to  do 
injustice  to  the  weak.  We  do  well  to  rejoice  in  our 
strength  and  to  take  delight  in  our  power,  but  we 
will  do  better  still  when  we  come  fully  to  know  that 
our  right  to  rule  has  been  transmitted  to  us  by  our 
fathers  through  centuries  of  toil  and  sacrifice,  suffer- 
ing and  death,  and  their  work  through  all  these  cen- 
turies has  been  a  striving  to  execute  judgment  in 
righteousness.  That  must  likewise  be  our  aim,  that 
our  labor." 

On  no  other  occasion  perhaps  did  Aycock  state 
his  complete  conviction  regarding  the  negro  problem 
with  more  clearness  or  conciseness  than  in  his  speech 
before  the  North  Carolina  Society  in  Baltimore,  Decem- 
ber 18, 1903,  and  we  cannot  better  close  this  chapter  than 
by  letting  him  speak  his  sentiments  in  his  own  words. 
After  recounting  evidences  of  recent  progress  in  North 
Carolina  he  said: 

"These  are  some  of  the  reasons  for  my  being  proud  of 
North  Carolina.     I  am  proud  of  my  State,  moreover, 


162  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

because  there  we  have  solved  the  negro  problem  which 
recently  seems  to  have  given  you  some  trouble.  We 
have  taken  him  out  of  politics  and  have  thereby  se- 
cured good  government  under  any  party  and  laid  foun- 
dations for  the  future  development  of  both  races.  We 
have  secured  peace,  and  rendered  prosperity  a  cer- 
tainty. 

"I  am  inclined  to  give  to  you  our  solution  of  this 
problem.  It  is,  first,  as  far  as  possible  under  the  Fif- 
teenth Amendment  to  disfranchise  him;  after  that  let 
him  alone,  quit  writing  about  him;  quit  talking  about 
him,  quit  making  him  'the  white  man's  burden,'  let 
him  'tote  his  own  skillet';  quit  coddling  him,  let  him 
learn  that  no  man,  no  race,  ever  got  anything  worth  the 
having  that  he  did  not  himself  earn;  that  character  is 
the  outcome  of  sacrifice  and  worth  is  the  result  of  toil; 
that  whatever  his  future  may  be,  the  present  has  in  it 
for  him  nothing  that  is  not  the  product  of  industry, 
thrift,  obedience  to  law,  and  uprightness;  that  he  can- 
not, by  resolution  of  council  or  league,  accomplish 
anything;  that  he  can  do  much  by  work;  that  violence 
may  gratify  his  passions  but  it  cannot  accomplish  his 
ambitions;  that  he  may  eat  rarely  of  the  cooking  of 
equality,  but  he  will  always  find  when  he  does  that 
'there  is  death  in  the  pot.'  Let  the  negro  learn  once 
for  all  that  there  is  unending  separation  of  the  races, 
that  the  two  peoples  may  develop  side  by  side  to  the 
fullest  but  that  they  cannot  intermingle;  let  the  white 
man  determine  that  no  man  shall  by  act  or  thought  or 
speech  cross  this  line,  and  the  race  problem  will  be  at 
an  end. 

"These  things  are  not  said  in  enmity  to  the  negro  but 
in  regard  for  him.  He  constitutes  one  third  of  the 
population  of  my  State:  he  has  always  been  my  per- 
sonal friend;  as  a  lawyer  I  have  often  defended  him, 
and  as  Governor  I  have  frequently  protected  him. 
But  there  flows  in  my  veins  the  blood  of  the  dominant 
race;  that  race  that  has  conquered  the  earth  and  seeks 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  163 

out  the  mysteries  of  the  heights  and  depths.  If  mani- 
fest destiny  leads  to  the  seizure  of  Panama,  it  is  certain 
that  it  likewise  leads  to  the  dominance  of  the  Caucasian. 
When  the  negro  recognizes  this  fact  we  shall  have  peace 
and  good  will  between  the  races. 

"  But  I  would  not  have  the  white  people  forget  their 
duty  to  the  negro.  We  must  seek  the  truth  and  pur- 
sue it.  We  owe  an  obligation  to  'the  man  in  black';  we 
brought  him  here;  he  served  us  well;  he  is  patient  and 
teachable.  We  owe  him  gratitude;  above  all  we  owe 
him  justice.  We  cannot  forget  his  fidelity  and  we 
ought  not  to  magnify  his  faults;  we  cannot  change  his 
color,  neither  can  we  ignore  his  service.  No  individual 
ever  '  rose  on  stepping  stones  of  dead'  others  '  to  higher 
things,'  and  no  people  can.     We  must  rise  by  ourselves, 

e  must  execute  judgment  in  righteousness;  we  must 
educate  not  only  ourselves  but  see  to  it  that  the  negro 
has  an  opportunity  for  education. 

"  As  a  white  man  I  am  afraid  of  but  one  thing  for  my 
race  and  that  is  that  we  shall  become  afraid  to  give  the 
negro  a  fair  chance.  The  first  duty  of  every  man  is  to 
develop  himself  to  the  uttermost  and  the  only  limita- 
tion upon  his  duty  is  that  he  shall  take  pains  to  see  that 
in  his  own  development  he  does  no  injustice  to  those 
beneath  him.  This  is  true  of  races  as  well  as  of  in- 
dividuals. Considered  properly  it  is  not  a  limitation 
but  a  condition  of  development.  The  white  man  in 
the  South  can  never  attain  to  his  fullest  growth  until  he 
does  absolute  justice  to  the  negro  race.  If  he  is  doing 
that  now,  it  is  well  for  him.  If  he  is  not  doing  it,  he 
must  seek  to  know  the  ways  of  truth  and  pursue  them. 
My  own  opinion  is,  that  so  far  we  have  done  well,  and 
that  the  future  holds  no  menace  for  us  if  we  do  the  duty 
which  lies  next  to  us,  training,  developing  the  coming 
generation,  so  that  the  problems  which  seem  difficult 
to  us  shall  be  easy  to  them." 


CHAPTER  XI 

AYCOCK    THE    MAN:    HIS   RELATIONS    TO    HIS 
FRIENDS    AND    HIS    FELLOWS 

AYCOCK  had  a  great  capacity  for  friendship. 
/-\  The  stories  one  hears  of  him  remind  one  of  the 
■*"  ■*  stories  long  current  about  Henry  Clay.  For 
example,  one  of  the  best  known  public  men  in  the  State 
said  recently:  "When  Aycock  came  to  Raleigh  I  de- 
termined not  to  like  him,  but  in  a  week's  time  he  could 
do  anything  he  pleased  with  me."  Says  Mr.  M.  L. 
Shipman:  "Thirty  minutes'  contact  with  him  was 
enough;  ever  after  that  you  were  his  friend."  The  char- 
acter of  the  man  drew  others  to  him;  he  had  in  an  un- 
usual degree  that  valuable  asset  for  a  public  man  —  a 
rarely  accurate  memory  for  names  and  faces;  and  he 
had  a  winning  graciousness  which  was  the  result  not  of 
design  or  a  desire  to  court  favor,  but  the  simple  utter- 
ance of  a  nature  overflowing  with  kindliness  and  good- 
will. His  manner  of  dealing  with  a  drunken  man  in 
Craven  County  is  a  good  illustration  of  his  tact.  Mr. 
H.  B.  Hardy  tells  the  story:  "While  Aycock  was 
speaking,  some  very  ardent  Republican,  made  still  more 
ardent  by  imbibing  corn  juice,  kept  interrupting  him, 
and  was  inclined  to  make  a  scene;  whereupon  some  of 
the  crowd  tried  to  keep  the  man  quiet.  The  Governor 
stopped  in  the  midst  of  his  speech  and  said:     'Let  him 

164 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  165 

alone;  he  ain't  bothering  me.  He  is  a  good  fellow  and 
will  be  all  right  just  as  soon  as  he  gets  clear  of  some  of 
that  radicalism,  and  I'll  bet  a  dollar  he  will  vote  the 
Democratic  ticket  in  November.'"  If  the  man  didn't 
"  go  Democratic  "  when  election  time  came  it  is  cer- 
tainly not  for  lack  of  tact  on  Aycock's  part ! 

He  not  only  had  a  warm  welcome  for  all  friends,  no 
matter  how  humble,  but  an  apt,  and  distinctive  wel- 
come as  well.  At  the  reception  after  his  inauguration, 
a  little  German  Jew  from  Goldsboro,  Barna  Finklestein 
by  name,  fell  into  line,  feeling  no  doubt  very  friendless 
and  uncomfortable  among  the  handsomely  gowned 
ladies,  and  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  the  social 
leaders  in  evening  clothes  and  the  new  fledged  colonels 
resplendent  with  gold  lace.  But  if  Finklestein  had 
been  a  Senator,  Aycock  would  not  have  received  him 
more  warmly:  "Wie  geht's,  Herr  Finklestein!"  he 
exclaimed,  and  then  —  his  German  giving  out  as  he 
turned  to  Mrs.  Aycock  —  "Dass  ist  mein  frau!"  An 
illustration  both  of  Aycock's  keen  appreciation  of  friend- 
ship and  his  homely  manner  of  expressing  this  apprecia- 
tion is  found  in  the  following  letter  he  sent  Mr.  Archi- 
bald Johnson  a  week  before  his  death: 

"  I  have  received  no  letter  from  any  one  which  is  more 
gratifying  to  me  than  yours  of  the  27th.  When  I  get 
down  in  the  mouth  and  feel  blue,  and  as  an  ancient 
friend  of  mine  once  said,  '  old  and  snaggled  toothed  and 
not  no  account,'  then  I  reflect  that  you  are  my  friend, 
and  straightway  I  feel  worth  while.  This  is  the  honest 
truth,  and  I  want  you  to  know  it." 

And  as  Mr.  Shipman  said,  once  Aycock's  friend  you 
were  his  friend  ever  after.     As  an  humble  acquaintance 


166  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

expressed  it :  "There  was  nothing  of  the  big  I  and  little 
you  about  him."  He  did  not  know  how  to  be  conde- 
scending. Equally  removed  from  snobbishness  and 
flattery,  he  met  everybody  on  equal  terms.  "One  of 
the  first  things  he  did  after  the  inauguration,"  said  Col. 
P.  M.  Pearsall,  his  private  secretary,  "was  to  detach 
the  call-bell  from  his  desk  to  my  desk;  whenever  he 
wanted  me  he  would  ring  for  Joe,  the  negro  servant, 
and  call  me."  This  further  comment  of  Colonel  Pear- 
sail's  is  worth  recording  here: 

"It  was  very  delightful  to  see  Governor  Aycock  with 
his  personal  friends.  The  atmosphere  was  one  of  inti- 
macy, freedom,  and  congeniality  that  was  very  refresh- 
ing. He  had  a  great  many  friends,  but  of  course  some 
were  more  intimate  with  him  than  others.  Among  the 
State  officers  who  were  with  him,  who  are  now  dead,  I 
cannot  refrain  from  mentioning  Doctor  Dixon,  the 
State  Auditor,  and  Mr.  S.  L.  Patterson,  Commissioner 
of  Agriculture.  These  gentlemen  loved  one  another  as 
brothers  do.  Good  men,  they  were  moved  by  a  high 
and  exalted  purpose  for  the  uplift  of  the  people,  and 
thoroughly  unselfish.  Indeed,  Governor  Aycock  was 
never  especially  intimate  with  a  person  who  was  not  an 
unselfish  man." 

Judge  Oliver  Allen  tells  of  going  with  Aycock  to  a 
Pender  County  farm  to  see  a  plain  old  man  whom  Ay- 
cock had  heard  was  in  bad  health.  Says  Judge  Allen: 
"  It  was  a  delightful  time  to  all  of  us.  We  talked  about 
everything,  walked  over  the  farm  during  the  day  and 
admired  the  growing  crops,  smoking  at  intervals,  and 
sat  up  until  late  bed  time.  He  and  Aycock  loved  each 
other;   theirs  were  kindred  spirits.      It  was  the  case 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  167 

of  a  great  educated  man  and  a  great  uneducated  man 
communing  together  on  equal  ground  and  each  one 
strengthening  the  other." 

His  kindness  to  children  knew  no  limits  and  their 
response  to  him  was  always  immediate,  because  he 
himself  had  the  generous,  uncalculating  heart  of  the 
child.  It  is  said  that  Fenimore  Cooper,  who  wrote 
such  delightful  stories  for  boys,  personally  had  no 
patience  with  the  restless,  mischievous  youngsters  his 
works  have  delighted;  and  many  others  have  done 
much  for  childhood  without  really  loving  children. 
But  this  was  not  the  case  with  Aycock.  Mr.  Hardy 
tells  of  an  incident  at  Trenton  when  the  marshals  were 
trying  to  pull  away  some  small  boys  who  had  crowded 
around  the  speaker's  stand.  "Just  let  the  little  fellows 
alone,"  said  Governor  Aycock,  "can't  you  see  that  the 
last  one  of  them  are  growing  Democrats  and  interested 
in  what  I  am  saying?"  Again,  on  returning  with  a 
party  from  a  commencement  address  at  Buie's  Creek 
Academy  he  quit  talking  to  the  grown  men  and  entered 
into  the  sports  (as  well  as  into  the  hearts)  of  some  chil- 
dren by  showing  them  how  to  blow  leaves  between  his 
two  thumbs.  Speaking  at  Elon  College  in  1909,  Sena- 
tor F.  M.  Simmons  said: 

"Walking  with  Governor  Aycock  one  day  on  the 
streets  of  New  Bern,  a  little  girl  whom  neither  of  us 
knew,  poorly  clad,  approached  us  and  looking  up  into 
his  face  asked  if  he  would  not  tell  her  —  and  then  asked 
something  I  have  forgotten  what;  it  was  some  simple 
matter  or  information  connected  with  her  errand.  His 
face  beamed  with  a  kindly  smile  as  bending  over  the 
little  tot  with  the  solicitude  of  a  father,  he  said  with  a 


168  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

simple  kindliness  I  shall  never  forget :  'Yes,  little  miss, 
I  will  do  anything  for  you.'  For  some  time  afterward 
we  walked  in  silence,  his  tenderness  making  the  incident 
too  sacred  for  words,  but  I  knew  then  as  I  had  not 
known  before  that  it  was  a  power  mightier  than  his 
brilliant  intellect  that  had  fired  the  people  of  North 
Carolina  with  a  determination  to  be  free  from  the  slav- 
ish bonds  of  ignorance." 

In  his  attitude  toward  women,  Governor  Aycock  ex- 
emplified all  the  finest  traditions  of  the  South.  The 
sentiment  he  felt  was  expressed  not  in  flowery  speeches 
or  in  a  manner  of  stately  courtliness  nor  in  any  form  of 
spectacular  grace  or  gallantry,  but  in  a  certain  lofty 
and  tender  regard  for  all  the  sex.  "Faith  in  woman- 
kind beat  with  his  blood."  Says  his  law  partner,  ex- 
Judge  Robert  W.  Winston:  "His  respect  for  woman- 
kind almost  passed  into  the  domain  of  adoration.  So 
great  was  his  respect  for  a  good  woman  that  he  almost 
regarded  her  as  incapable  of  doing  wrong." 

"All  women  are  natural  aristocrats,"  Aycock  said 
on  one  occasion,  "and  all  men  are  natural  democrats, 
and  it  is  well  it  is  so.  The  women  ought  to  require 
and  expect  certain  fine  standards  of  manner  and  con- 
duct, ought  to  insist  on  the  beauties,  graces,  and  cour- 
tesies that  distinguish  an  aristocracy;  while  the  men 
in  their  workaday  world  must  give  the  necessary  bal- 
ance to  human  society  by  measuring  men  by  the 
rougher  democratic  standard." 

We  have  already  referred  to  Aycock's  relations  to 
his  political  opponents.  To  them  he  was  always  fair, 
never  striking  below  the  belt,  or  taking  a  mean 
advantage.     The  three  men  oftenest  pitted  against  him 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  169 

in  party  combat  were  ex-Senator  Marion  Butler,  Judge 
Jeter  C.  Pritchard,  and  the  brilliant  and  resourceful 
Dr.  Cyrus  Thompson.  The  tributes  these  men  have 
paid  his  character  are  perhaps  more  effective  than  any 
others  could  possibly  be.  We  have  already  quoted 
part  of  Judge  Pritchard 's  estimate.  "When  fighting 
Aycock,  I  learned  to  love  him,"  said  Dr.  Cyrus  Thomp- 
son a  short  time  before  Ay  cock's  death.  Writing  in  his 
paper,  The  Caucasian,  the  week  after  Aycock's  death, 
ex-Senator  Butler  paid  him  this  tribute: 

"He  was  a  man  of  big  brain  and  big  heart.  His 
impulses  were  all  generous  and  noble.  He  was  incap- 
able of  doing  a  small  or  a  mean  act.  He  was  a  man  of 
pronounced  convictions  and  possessed  a  manly  courage 
that  did  not  waver  under  adverse  and  trying  conditions. 
He  was  the  high  type  of  a  man  who  could  meet  a  strong 
opponent  in  the  fiercest  kind  of  a  contest,  and  yet  com- 
mand the  respect  of  his  opponent  more  at  the  end  than 
at  the  beginning.  It  was  safe  to  say  that  Mr.  Aycock 
had  more  personal  admirers  and  friends  than  any  other 
man  in  North  Carolina,  and  these  friends  were  not 
limited  to  the  members  of  his  own  political  party.  No 
man  since  Vance,  was  so  beloved  or  will  be  so  greatly 
missed." 

Even  the  colored  people,  though  he  led  the  fight  for 
their  disfranchisement,  recognized  the  integrity  of  Ay- 
cock's  motives  and  the  real  friendliness  he  felt  for 
them.  A  considerable  number  of  them  from  Goldsboro 
wished  to  attend  his  funera.  in  a  body,  and  would  have 
done  so  but  for  the  very  limited  capacity  of  the  church 
from  which  the  funeral  was  held.  "Great  numbers  of 
negroes  heard  him  speak  in  1898,"  says  Dr.  J.  D.  Huf- 
ham,  "but  he  spoke  for  a  great  principle  and  without 


170  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

bitterness  and  never  said  anything  to  anger  or  wound 
the  blacks  who  listened  to  his  eloquent  appeals  for 
white  supremacy."  The  following  letter  found  among 
Governor  Ay  cock's  papers  after  his  death  is  both  inter- 
esting and  significant: 

Henderson,  N.  C,  Feb.  29, 1912. 
Dear  Boss: 

I  am  writing  to  tell  you  that  I  show  am  for  you  and  if 
you  do  not  get  ellected  it  will  be  because  the  most  folks 
have  got  less  sense  than  me.  I  have  been  on  the  Staff 
of  several  Governors  but  am  for  you  all  the  time  and  if 
I  dont  vote  for  you  it  will  be  because  they  will  not  let 
me  vote  for  anybody.  I  don't  want  to  vote  for  any- 
body else  for  anythin'  no  how.  Your  servant  and  re- 
spectful nigger, 

James  Gill,  the  Barber." 

The  poor  and  the  unfortunate  never  had  a  better 
friend  than  Governor  Aycock  —  unless  one  might 
think  that  he  would  have  been  a  better  friend  to  some 
of  them  if  he  had  been  less  generous.  "So  long  as  he 
had  $50  in  the  bank,"  as  one  of  those  nearest  him  said, 
"  no  one  who  was  hard  up,  or  wanted  a  contribution  for 
a  church,  or  needed  help  to  get  out  of  jail,  was  likely  to 
appeal  to  him  in  vain."  It  is  fortunate  that  life  in- 
surance was  invented  before  his  time  for  otherwise  it 
would  have  been  difficult,  with  his  generosity,  for  him 
to  make  adequate  provision  for  his  family  after  his 
death.  A  kinsman  recalls  his  saying  when  a  young 
man,  "If  I  ever  get  to  be  worth  over  $2500, 1  should  like 
to  give  the  rest  away  to  the  poor";  and  he  came  very 
near  carrying  out  his  early  program.  Says  Judge  Win- 
ston:    "Governor  Ay  cock's  heart  was  so  big  he  was 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  171 

unable  to  resist  any  appeal  for  help.  His  stenographer 
and  law  partner  had  to  form  a  sort  of  bodyguard  to 
keep  those  who  had  found  out  his  weakness  out  of  his 
office.  He  was  known  time  and  time  again  to  empty 
his  pocket  to  some  stray  beggar  who  had  drifted  in. 
He  was  ever  courteous  and  kind  to  every  visitor,  man, 
woman  or  child.  When  a  book  agent  managed  to  get 
past  the  'bodyguard/  he  nearly  always  came  out  with 
an  order,  and  the  Governor  would  laugh  and  say, '  Well, 
the  fellow  has  to  have  a  living  and  he's  trying  to  get  it 
honestly.'  His  office  in  Raleigh  was  a  veritable  resort 
for  the  under  dog  in  the  fight  —  the  fellow  who  had 
lost  out  in  the  battle  of  life  —  the  old  Confederate 
soldier  with  his  crutch  under  his  arm,  and  a  leg  buried  in 
Virginia.  Any  old  fellow  who  was  'down  and  out' 
naturally  gravitated  to  'the  Governor's'  office.  After 
he  had  given  him  twenty  or  thirty  minutes  of  valuable 
time  listening  to  his  tale  of  woe,  and  after  he  had  re- 
freshed him  with  the  bestowal  of  a  dollar  or  more,  he 
would  meander  across  the  hall  into  his  partner's  office 
and  remark,  half  seriously  and  half  jokingly,  '  Somehow 
those  old  fellows  seem  to  find  me  out.' " 

Aycock  did  not  give  money,  however,  merely  because 
of  being  unable  to  resist  a  personal  appeal  for  help. 
He  gave  because  he  found  a  keen  delight  in  giving,  a 
sheer  joy  in  aiding  others,  and  he  would  go  out  of  his 
way  to  give  money  to  a  worthy  object,  even  if  no  ap- 
peal was  made  directly  to  him  in  its  behalf.  Rev. 
Livingston  Johnson  has  mentioned  a  case  in  point: 
"  Some  years  ago  one  of  our  most  consecrated  ministers 
wrote  an  article  for  his  denominational  paper,  telling 
how  he  had  lived  on  a  small  salary,  and  had  reared  and 


172  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

educated  a  large  family  of  children.  The  preacher  was 
not  complaining  of  his  hard  lot,  but  was  simply  showing 
what  could  be  done  by  economical  management.  In 
a  few  days  after  the  article  appeared  he  received  a  letter 
from  Governor  Aycock  containing  a  check  for  ten  dol- 
lars, with  the  words,  '  I  read  your  article  and  it  is  worth 
this  much  to  me.' " 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  assume  from  what  has  been 
said,  however,  that  Aycock  would  let  an  outright  fraud 
impose  upon  him  or  that  he  would  let  an  admittedly 
bad  man  trifle  with  him.  For  human  frailty  or  weak- 
ness he  had  the  greatest  sympathy,  but  not  for  mean- 
ness; and  if  convinced  that  a  man  was  deliberately 
trying  to  take  advantage  of  his  good  nature  and  gener- 
osity, the  Aycock  nature  lost  little  time  in  shifting  its 
emphasis  from  mercy  to  a  very  rigid  type  of  Calvinistic 
justice.  A  letter  which  he  wrote  to  a  client  of  this 
character  January  27,  1910,  found  him  in  the  latter 
mood: 

"Yours  to  hand.  I  have  definitely  fixed  my  fee. 
You  promised  to  pay  me  $250.  Because  I  did  not  have 
to  try  the  case  I  voluntarily  cut  the  fee  down  to  $125. 
I  shall  not  cut  it  any  further.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  case  was  settled  because  George  Hood  and  I  were 
retained  in  it.  You  never  would  have  got  it  settled 
otherwise.  We  did  you  more  service  than  we  could 
have  done  by  a  trial.  But  these  are  things  that  folks 
are  constantly  overlooking.  If  I  had  insisted  on  the 
day  you  employed  me,  on  your  giving  me  your  note  for 
$250  you  would  not  have  hesitated  a  moment  in  doing 
so;  but  as  the  work  is  accomplished  and  the  results 
attained,  you  are  going  to  pay  me  half  that  amount 
and  then  be  mad  with  me.  Send  me  your  note  as 
drawn  by  me.    Of  course,  the  others  ought  to  help  you, 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  173 

but  I  do  not  look  to  them  myself.  All  that  I  want  is 
your  note,  and  I  expect  this  by  return  mail.  I  do  not 
care  what  Mr.  Hood  charged  you,  or  what  anybody 
charged  you.  I  do  not  base  my  fees  on  what  other 
people  charge.  I  do  not  estimate  my  own  services  by 
the  estimate  which  other  men  put  upon  theirs.  That  is 
their  business,  and  this  is  mine." 

During  his  administration  as  Governor  he  was  vigor- 
ously criticised  for  his  alleged  abuse  of  the  pardoning 
power,  and  there  is  little  doubt  but  that  his  sympathy 
for  the  unfortunate  did  cause  him  to  free  some  un- 
worthy criminals,  but  Aycock  never  regretted  or  apolo- 
gized for  this  course.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  proud 
of  it.  Says  his  law  partner :  "  On  one  occasion  a  prom- 
inent candidate  for  Governor  criticised  Aycock  for 
pardoning  people  and  said  that  the  law  must  be  upheld 
at  all  hazards,  and  that  too  many  pardons  were  granted, 
and  that  when  he  was  elected  Governor  he  was  going  to 
run  the  pardon  department  according  to  the  rules  of 
business.  When  this  was  repeated  to  Aycock  he  said: 
"  Yes,  and  he  will  never  get  to  be  Governor.  No  man 
will  be  Governor  of  North  Carolina  or  is  worthy  to  be 
Governor,  unless  he  has  a  heart  big  enough  to  suffer 
with  all  the  people."  While  Aycock  was  much  criti- 
cised for  exercising  the  pardoning  power,  he  himself 
felt  actual  pride  in  what  he  had  done  for  the  unfortu- 
nate criminals  of  the  State.  He  was  heard  to  say  only 
a  few  weeks  before  his  death  that  he  had  never  had  oc- 
casion to  regret  a  single  pardon  he  granted.  As 
Christmas  would  come  around  each  year,  there  were 
several  old  convicts  he  had  pardoned  who  would  write 
him  touching  letters  of  thanks  and  gratitude  calling 


174  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

his  attention  to  what  he  had  done  for  them.  There  is 
in  North  Carolina  one  old  convict  who  never  failed  on 
Thanksgiving  Day  to  write  and  tell  him  that  he  was 
living  a  clean  life  and  serving  God  and  man  as  best  he 
could.  Governor  Ay  cock  always  found  time  to  answer 
that  letter  and  admonish  him  to  continue  in  his  walk  of 
right  living.  The  Governor's  friend,  Josephus  Daniels, 
once  criticised  him  editorially  in  the  News  and  Observer 
for  pardoning  so  many  criminals,  and  when  the  editorial 
was  called  to  the  Governor's  attention,  he  smiled  and 
said:  "What  Joe  says  about  my  pardoning  folks 
doesn't  worry  me  a  bit.  The  thing  that  keeps  me 
awake  at  night  is  the  thought  of  those  I  haven't  par- 
doned." 

It  happens  that  after  the  foregoing  statement  was 
given  us  by  Judge  Winston,  the  convict  to  whom  he 
refers  as  writing  each  Thanksgiving  sent  us  the  following 
letter  with  the  request  that  it  appear  in  this  biography. 
It  is  an  intensely  interesting  human  document,  and 
we  have  thought  it  well  to  reprint  it  verbatim  et  lit- 
eratim, omitting  only  the  writer's  name  and  address: 

The  kindness  and  pardon  of  C.  B.  Ay  cock  to  A 
Prisoner: 

I  was  givin  a  term  of  15  months  on  county  road  at 
greensboro  N.  C,  Guilford  county,  Aug.  18,  1902. 

My  crime  was  fiting  with  nife.  I  was  assalted  by  a 
large  man  and  a  bad  one  full  of  liquar  and  was  nocked 
down  before  I  done  anything  to  him.  I  had  bin  nocked 
down  twice  my  only  hope  was  to  use  a  nife.  I  have 
never  had  any  disire  to  hert  any  man,  I  love  peas. 

I  had  a  paper  from  a  doctor  stating  I  had  kidney 
trouble  and  was  not  able  to  hard  labor  but  it  done  me 
no  good.     I  had  to  go  to  the  road  and  work  as  best  I 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  175 

could,  then  in  the  hands  of  men  of  no  mercy,  my  wife 
at  home  by  herself.  We  have  no  children  she  would 
bring  me  something  to  eat  ever  Sunday.  The  Fair 
was  verry  comon  at  the  camp.  I  am  verry  sorry  for 
any  man  that  hast  to  go  where  he  has  to  work  hard  and 
get  half  enuff  to  eat.  it  is  too  bad.  I  done  the  best  I 
could  for  6  months  it  seemed  like  6  years  to  me.  my 
friends  advised  me  to  try  for  a  parden  so  I  rote  to  Mr 
Aycock  in  regard  to  the  matter,  he  answered  me  at 
once  with  great  sympathy  telling  me  what  I  must  do 
before  he  could  help  me. 

My  wife  was  my  best  friend  as  all  women  should  be. 
she  got  a  lot  of  good  men  in  High  Point  to  sign  a  pardon 
for  me  to  whitch  I  thank  them  to-day.  then  she  gets 
Solicitar  Brooks  at  Greensboro  to  sign  it,  then  with  the 
nearve  and  love  of  a  good  woman  she  gets  on  the  train 
and  goes  to  Raleigh  no  one  with  her  to  help  shair  her 
troubles.  She  finds  my  dear  friend  Mr  Aycock  in  his 
office  he  met  her  with  a  smile  as  I  hope  he  met  our 
Savior,  with  trimbling  hand  and  a  sad  heart  she  told 
him  her  business.  Dier  Reader  you  can  easy  immaggin 
how  she  felt  while  he  was  looking  over  the  pappers  she 
gav  him  allmost  my  life  was  in  his  hands.  I  was  not 
able  to  do  the  hard  work  that  was  required  of  me. 
When  the  dear  man  had  looked  them  over  he  saw  tears 
coming  down  the  cheaks  of  my  faithful  wife.  He  sed 
to  her.  "Don't  cry  for  joy,  I  will  pardon  him."  Then 
gladness  came  to  her  hart,  she  thanked  him  as  best 
she  could  and  bade  him  farewell  for  the  last  time  on 
earth,  hoping  to  meet  where  there  is  no  tears  and  sor- 
rows. 

She  come  to  me  as  the  dove  to  the  ark  to  gladden  my 
heart.  I  was  soon  at  my  home  for  the  first  time  in  6 
months.  Ever  since  I  have  ritten  to  Mr  Aycock  at 
thanksgiving  thanking  him  as  best  I  could  for  his  great 
kindness  to  me,  sometimes  he  would  answer  my  letteus, 
the  last  on  was  Dec.  19,  1911. 

Reads  as  follows, 


176  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK 

Mr ,  N.  C. 

Dier  Sir:- 

I  am  always  greatful  to  you  for  your  kind  thanskgiv- 
ing  letters,  they  give  me  very  great  pleasure  because 
they  give  me  assurance  that  I  made  no  mistake  in  the 
course  whitch  I  pursued.  I  wish  for  you  a  long  life  of 
service  and  much  happiness. 

With  the  greetings  of  the  season,  I  am,  with  best 
wishes, 

Verry  sincerely  your  friend, 
C.  B.  Ay  cock. 

he  cannot  rite  to  me  any  more  But  I  love  him  and 
his  grave.  I  never  saw  his  face  But  I  still  hope  to 
see  him  in  heaven 

(Signed) 


CHAPTER  XII 

INTIMATE    GLIMPSES    OF     AYCOCK:     PERSONAL     TRAITS, 
TASTES    AND    CHARACTERISTICS 

THE  striking  lines  in  which  Rudyard  Kipling 
describes  his  brother,  Wolcott  Balestier,  in  his 
"Dedication  to  the  Barrack  Room  Ballads," 
come  to  mind  as  a  singularly  appropriate  characteriza- 
tion of  Governor  Aycock: 

"E'en  as  he  trod  that  day  to  God,  so  walked  he  from  his  birth 

In  simpleness  and  gentleness  and  honor  and  clean  mirth ■ 

Who  had  done  his  work  and  held  his  peace  and  had  no  fear  to  die." 

"Simplicity,  gentleness,  honor  and  clean  mirth"  — 
these  were  indeed  his  characteristics  from  the  beginning. 
Of  the  first  three  qualities  we  have  already  written,  but 
the  fourth  term  suggests  a  trait  no  less  marked  in  him. 
In  his  tribute  to  Lee,  published  elsewhere  in  this 
volume,  he  mentions  it  as  one  of  the  chief  virtues  of 
the  great  Confederate  chieftain  that  he  never  told  a 
story  that  would  have  brought  a  blush  to  a  woman's 
cheek.  The  same  thing  was  true  of  Aycock,  although 
he  had  a  perpetual  flow  of  quaint  humor,  and  a  rare 
faculty  of  "mixing"  with  any  kind  of  crowd,  as  Lee  had 
not.  What  a  schoolmate  writes  of  Aycock  as  a  boy  was 
also  true  of  him  as  a  man,  "He  was  always  full  of  fun 
and  naturally  witty  and  fond  of  jokes,  but  never  in- 

177 


178  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

dulged  in  anything  of  a  vulgar  nature";  and  a  Uni- 
versity roommate,  Mr.  J.  R.  Rodwell,  says,  "I  never 
knew  him  to  do  or  say  anything  as  a  college  boy  that 
he  would  have  been  ashamed  to  tell  his  mother." 
Aycock  not  only  indulged  in  no  vulgarity  himself, 
but  he  even  thought  less  of  a  distinguished  scholar  and 
statesman  for  a  somewhat  broad  anecdote  related  in  a 
speech  in  Raleigh;  and  he  had  no  patience  with  what 
he  called  "the  Ladies'  Home  Journal's  plan  of  making 
children  better  by  telling  them  all  the  evil  there  is  in 
the  world."  He  was  too  robust,  manly,  fun-loving 
and  red-blooded  to  have  any  suggestion  of  prudishness 
about  him,  but  he  was  simply  innately  clean  and  pure- 
minded  and  had  no  relish  for  any  associations  or 
environments  of  a  different  character.  Col.  P.  M. 
Pearsall  tells  an  amusing  incident  about  his  trip  to 
New  York  City  in  1901,  when  he  addressed  the  North 
Carolina  Society  there:  "Two  of  his  intimate  friends 
from  North  Carolina  went  to  New  York  to  be  present 
and  hear  the  speech.  They  were  there  two  or  three 
days,  and  one  evening  one  of  these  North  Carolina 
gentlemen  invited  us  out  to  dinner  with  him.  He  car- 
ried us  uptown  to  a  hotel  and  we  went  somewhere  to 
a  quasi-private  dining  room,  an  exceedingly  sporty  but 
not  disreputable  place.  It  was  all  right  and  I  knew  it. 
Still,  while  I  have  seen  uncomfortable  people,  I  cannot 
recall  that  I  have  ever  seen  a  man  quite  so  uncom- 
fortable as  Governor  Aycock  was  the  two  hours  we  were 
there." 

A  story  of  like  tenor  comes  from  Mr.  F.  B.  Arendell: 
"I  recall  that  as  we  were  returning  from  an  educational 
meeting  in  Oklahoma  in  December,  1909,  we  had  an 


OF  CHAELES  B.  AYCOCK  179 

hour  or  two  before  train  time  in  Birmingham,  and  so 
took  in  the  busy  shopping  districts,  landing  finally  in 
a  popular-priced  playhouse.  The  show  was  somewhat 
spectacular  and  was  boisterously  applauded  by  the 
crowded  hall.  There  was  the  slightest  suspicion  of 
impropriety  about  it  and  I  could  see  in  a  moment  that 
it  was  not  to  Governor  Aycock's  liking.  He  sat  quiet 
for  a  few  moments  but  then  turned  and  said,  'Aren- 
dell,  I  don't  like  this  show  and  you  have  got  no  business 
liking  it,  so  let's  go.'     And  we  went." 

Anything  approaching  sacrilege  also  grated  harshly 
on  Aycock's  spirit  of  reverence.  Most  of  Mark 
Twain's  fine  humor  he  relished  keenly,  but  he  had  no 
patience  with  "Captain  Stormfield's  Visit  to  Heaven," 
because  it  seemed  to  him  irreverent. 

"And  had  no  fear  to  die."  There  have  been  few 
men  to  whom  this  phrase  of  Kipling's  co  uld  have  been 
more  fittingly  applied  than  to  Governor  Ay  cock.  "  I 
think  he  is  the  only  person  I  ever  knew  who  had  con- 
quered the  physical,  animal  fear  of  dying,"  says  Col. 
P.  M.  Pearsall.  "He  did  not  wish  to  die,  of  course, 
but  he  left  it  all  in  the  hands  of  the  Lord  with  a  calm 
confidence  as  to  the  future.  He  took  the  position  that 
no  man  ever  died  too  early;  that  when  his  end  came,  it 
came  in  the  appointed  time,  when  he  had  accomplished 
all  that  it  was  intended  that  he  should  do.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  insisted  that  many  people  live  too  long, 
live  beyond  the  day  of  usefulness,  and  often  undo  many 
good  things  already  accomplished.  He  told  me  many 
times  that  he  would  probably  die  as  he  did  die  —  that 
is,  drop  dead  while  speaking.  He  came  to  this  con- 
clusion most   likely  on  account  of  the  fact   that  his 


180  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

father  and  two  or  three  of  his  brothers  died  suddenly. 
I,  like  most  people,  do  not  care  very  much  about  talk- 
ing of  death  but  Aycock  really  seemed,  in  a  measure, 
to  enjoy  the  contemplation  of  death  and  the  entrance 
into  a  life  freed  from  the  worries,  perplexities  and 
anxieties  of  this  world.  To  have  known  the  man  as  I 
knew  him  strengthens  one's  faith  in  the  fact  that  there 
just  must  be,  and  is,  a  land  of  rest  beyond  the  grave." 
In  this  connection,  a  letter  which  Governor  Aycock 
wrote  Colonel  Pearsall  from  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Hospital,  March  5,  1912,  (less  than  a  month 
before  his  death)  is  worth  quoting.  Colonel  Pearsall 
had  written  him  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Lamb  Harvey,  of 
Kinston.     The  reply  follows  in  part* 

"Dear  Murph: 

Glad  to  hear  from  you.  I  had  not  heard  of  Mr. 
Harvey's  death.  He  was  a  good  man  and  strong.  He 
was  a  dear  friend  to  me  and  I  loved  him  much.  He  was 
faithful  and  wise.  I  am  grieved  at  his  death.  As 
time  rolls  on  one  finds  that  most  of  his  friends  are  on 
the  other  side.  It  is  well  that  it  is  so  or  this  world  would 
be  too  attractive  and  sweet  a  place,  and  we  would  not 
grow  in  grace  by  service  and  suffering,  and  would 
shiver  with  fear  of  death." 

"He  knows  now  what  makes  the  stars  shine,"  Ay- 
cock would  quote  from  "Barnaby  Rudge"  when  a 
friend  had  passed  over  the  river;  and  Col.  Fred.  A. 
Olds,  whose  intense  love  of  nature  made  him  a  con- 
genial companion  for  Aycock  on  his  hunting  trips 
around  Raleigh,  remarks:  "He  was  always  an  op- 
timist —  even  when  we  walked  through  the  cemeteries 
and  saw  the  monuments,  cold  things  like  trees  in  winter- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  181 

time,  which  seemed  amid  the  snow  to  be  creatures  of  a 
dead  world.  But  he  never  thought  of  the  tombstone 
as  a  dead  thing,  but  as  merely  a  symbol  of  something 
which  by  and  by  would  show  life;  just  as  from  his  view- 
point the  winter  was  not  a  dark  and  drear  time,  but 
merely  one  of  preparation  for  spring  —  an  Easter 
awakening  in  churchyard  and  forest,  in  the  one  at  their 
finality  of  things,  and  the  other  at  each  recurring 
spring." 

Aycock  had  an  intense  love  of  nature  and  country 
life.  He  even  had  an  aversion  to  walking  on  paved 
streets.  Mr.  Arendell  recalls  that  on  one  occasion 
at  a  big  hotel,  while  he  was  studying  a  two-page  bill  of 
fare,  he  remarked:  "I  wish  we  were  all  down  at  old 
Wiley  Fort's  in  Wayne  County  where  we  could  get 
some  sure-enough  sausage,  spare-ribs,  and  old-fashioned 
chicken  pie,  and  some  corn  bread  with  finger  prints 
on  the  crust."  As  Colonel  Olds  goes  on  to  say  in  the 
letter  from  which  we  have  just  quoted;  "  He  really  had 
at  heart  the  things  the  country  boy  loves  —  the  atmos- 
phere and  life  of  his  boyhood.  To  his  eye  a  winter 
landscape,  snow-covered,  was  impressive,  and  so  was 
the  fresh  plowed  field  with  that  wonderful  glint  on  the 
side  of  the  sun-smitten  clouds  along  the  furrow.  He 
had  all  the  Greek  love  for  the  crimson  clover  of  spring- 
time, for  the  nodding  wheatheads  through  which  the 
summer  wind  and  sunshine  race  together,  and  for  the 
luscious  and  unforgettable  scuppernong  of  autumn. 
I  well  remember  driving  Governor  Aycock  on  one 
occasion  out  in  the  country  eastward  from  Raleigh,  and 
as  we  topped  a  hill  overlooking  a  wide  view  of  notable 
beauty,  he  laid  a  hand  on  mine  and  said:  'Look  at  that 


182  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

—  what  a  landscape !  It  rests  the  eye  and  the  mind  and 
the  soul  to  see  it.  Do  you  know  it  seems  to  me  to 
suggest  the  gentleness  and  charm  and  inspiration  which 
a  fine  woman  carries  about  her  —  a  visible  grace  and 
an  invisible  fragrance  of  inspiration!" 

Of  fox  hunting,  he  was  passionately  fond.  "I  want 
to  go  with  you  sometime,"  he  said  as  the  writer  re- 
turned from  a  hunt  last  winter,  and  his  eye  lighted  up 
with  joyous  memories  of  the  inimitable  music  of  the 
hounds  when  he  had  followed  them  on  other  wintry 
days.  On  one  occasion  while  passing  Pikeville,  going 
to  Wilson,  he  heard  a  pack  in  the  distance  and  know- 
ing them  to  be  his  brother  Benjamin's  dogs,  could  not 
resist  the  temptation  to  get  off  and  go  toward  them: 
"I  was  standing  wondering  what  words  in  the  English 
language  could  give  expression  to  the  matchless  music 
of  a  pack  in  full  chase,  when  Bill  Durden,  an  old 
negro,  looked  up  and  said  with  enthusiasm  equal  to 
my  own:  'Mr.  Ay  cock,  now  ain't  them  dogs  running 
politeful?'  And  I  have  adopted  the  word  ever  since 
for  want  of  a  better  one." 

Dr.  Henry  van  Dyke  somewhere  makes  a  prayer 
something  like  this:  "  0  Lord,  keep  me  from  caring 
more  for  art  than  for  life,  for  books  than  for  folks." 
Aycock  always  preserved  the  fine  balance  that  this 
prayer  suggests.  His  major  interest  was  always  in 
life  and  in  "folks,"  but  he  also  had  a  keen  appreciation 
of  intellectual  pleasures.  He  would  not,  if  he  could, 
have  sold  the  joy  he  found  in  reading  Tennyson  for 
any  amount  of  money.  Tennyson,  "Lorna  Doone," 
Shakespeare  and  the  Bible  seemed  to  have  been  his 
favorite  books.    No  other  one  fragment  of  literature  had 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  183 

for  him  half  the  fascination  that  "  Maud  "  had.  His 
effective  quotation  from  it  in  his  speech  accepting  the 
Gubernatorial  nomination  is  still  remembered  by  many 
who  heard  it.  On  one  occasion  while  he  was  Governor, 
the  writer  walked  with  him  from  the  Executive  Mansion 
to  the  Capitol,  and  he  drifted  from  talk  of  education 
to  talk  of  Tennyson  and  the  pleasure  he  had  had  in 
reading  Dr.  van  Dyke's  volume,  "The  Poetry  of  Ten- 
nyson." "He  explained  one  thing  to  me  I  had  never 
understood,"  said  the  Governor,  "  and  that  is  the 
passage  in  '  Maud,' 

'For  her  feet  have  touched  the  meadows 
And  left  the  daisies  rosy.' 

"The  explanation  is,  that  the  underside  of  the  Eng- 
lish daisy  is  red." 

"I  never  understood  '  how  money  breeds,'  as  the 
phrase  runs  in  'The  Brook,'"  he  remarked  one  evening 
in  February,  1912;  and  then  he  brought  in  his  well- 
fingered  Tennyson  and  read  the  whole  poem,  pausing 
now  and  then  in  the  reading  to  express  delight  in  the 
poet's  aptest  phrases  and  especially  his  description  of 
the  horse  trading. 

He  admired  Edgar  Allan  Poe's  short  stories  and 
thought  more  highly  of  Poe  because,  while  Tennyson 
was  yet  a  young  man,  Poe  had  said  "I  regard  him  as 
the  very  noblest  poet  that  ever  lived."  Aycock,  in  fact, 
used  Tennyson  so  much  that  he  shortened  his  full 
title  to  an  affectionate  nickname.  "Old  Tenn"  he 
called  him.  In  concluding  his  last  speech  —  the  speech 
he  never  lived  to  utter  —  he  came  to  the  word  "equal" 
and  paused.       "Now  let's  see  what  'Old  Tenn'  says 


184  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

about  equal,"  he  remarked,  and  picking  up  his  Tenny- 
son, read  off  the  passage  from  "The  Princess"  which  it 
will  be  seen  is  next  to  the  last  paragraph  in  the  speech. 
"Lorna  Doone"also  helped  to  furnish  him  inspiration 
on  this  occasion  as  it  had  on  many  others.  Many  of 
Dickens's  novels  were  among  Aycock's  favorites,  and 
some  of  Scott's.  He  also  had  an  almost  extravagant 
admiration  for  Green's  "Short  History  of  the  English 
People,"  and  declared  that  no  other  book  except  the 
Bible  influenced  him  more  as  a  young  man.  Hender- 
son's "Life  of  Stonewall  Jackson"  he  pronounced 
"the  best  book  on  the  war  ever  written  by  anybody." 
One  of  the  last  things  he  read  was  David  Grayson's 
"Adventures  in  Contentment,"  concerning  which  he 
wrote  the  friend  who  sent  it,  from  the  University  Hos- 
pital in  Philadelphia: 

"I  received  the  book  this  morning  and  have  read 
every  word  of  it.  I  have  read  nothing  in  a  long  time  so 
delightful  and  refreshing.  There  is  wisdom  on  every 
page.  There  are,  too,  so  many  quotable  passages  in 
it,  for  example:  'A  country's  progress  can  be  measured 
by  those  things  once  matters  of  debate  which  are  now 
accepted  as  a  matter  of  course.'  When  North  Carolina 
accepts  universal  education,  good  roads  and  the  sup- 
pression of  injurious  child  labor,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
what  a  State  we  shall  have!" 

Political  subjects,  of  course,  interested  him  greatly. 
Ida  M.  Tarbell's  "History  of  the  Tariff"  he  regarded 
as  one  of  the  best  recent  books  on  that  subject  but  he 
thought  Gladstone's  reply  to  Blaine  in  the  North  Ameri- 
can Review  debate  in  1890,  put  the  whole  matter  on 
the  right  basis  —  the  moral  iniquity  of  any  system  of 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  185 

protection.  He  confessed  that  he  had  never  gotten 
over  the  profound  impression  that  Henry  George's 
books  made  on  him,  although,  of  course,  he  did  not 
accept  all  of  the  famous  Single  Taxer's  conclusions. 
The  last  week  in  March,  1912,  the  writer  read  to  Gov- 
ernor Aycock  an  address  advocating  a  graduated  tax 
on  the  unearned  increment  in  land  as  well  as  a  heavy 
graduated  tax  on  inheritance  shifting  the  main  burden 
of  taxation  from  the  gains  of  thrift  and  industry  to 
the  gains  of  chance  or  inheritance..  "You  are  right," 
was  his  comment,  "but  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  the 
people  see  it."  Edgar  Gardner  Murphy's  "The  Basis 
of  Ascendenc3r, "  he  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  de- 
liverances on  Southern  problems.  Governor  Aycock 
was  also  a  constant  reader  of  the  monthly  magazines, 
Collier  s  Weekly  and  the  Saturday  Evening  Post  and 
the  Congressional  Record;  and  "no  great  speech  in 
England  or  America  escaped  his  attention." 

He  was  not  a  remarkably  versatile  man  —  not  at  least 
when  we  think  of  versatility  as  incarnated  in  Mr.  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt  —  but  he  had  a  degree  of  culture,  inten- 
sive rather  than  extensive,  which  would  have  surprised 
the  average  North  Carolina  voter.  It  is  not  every  day 
that  one  finds  a  politician  who  can  repeat  pages  of  Ten- 
nyson by  heart,  can  deliver  a  lecture  on  Joan  of  Arc,  or 
amuse  his  children  by  repeating  the  grotesque  sounds 
of  a  German  rhyme.  Any  subject  about  which  he  was 
uninformed  he  regarded  as  a  challenge  to  investigation, 
immediately  bringing  the  necessary  reference  books 
or  Encyclopedias  to  his  aid.  He  was  —  as  all  orators 
and  writers  should  be  —  a  student  of  words  and  dis- 
criminating in  his  choice  of  them.     He  sometimes  made 


186  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

effective  use  of  some  unusual  or  even  grotesque  term  or 
phrase  which  had  impressed  him. 

Ay  cock  was  extremely  simple  in  all  his  tastes.  His 
friends,  his  books,  his  pipe,  plenty  of  money  to  give 
away  and  enough  left  to  live  on  in  quietness  —  this  was 
all  he  would  have  cared  for.  When  he  was  inaugurated 
Governor,  he  would  have  no  inaugural  ball,  not  that  he 
had  scruples  against  dancing  (for  although  a  Baptist 
he  allowed  his  own  daughters  to  dance)  but  simply  be- 
cause it  did  not  suit  his  ideas  of  simplicity.  He  always 
felt  most  at  home  among  plain  country  people  such  as 
he  grew  up  among,  and  it  has  been  frequently  stated,  as 
Prof.  E.  C.  Brooks  says  in  North  Carolina  Education 
that  "  his  greatest  addresses  are  unpublished  and  will 
never  be  published,  because  he  was  greatest  when 
speaking  to  an  audience  of  country  people."  The 
showy  extravagance  of  the  newly  rich,  their  scandals 
and  their  divorces,  sickened  him.  He  believed  in  men 
keeping  their  old-fashioned  reverence  for  women,  and 
in  women  keeping  all  the  olden  grace,  reserve,  and 
dignity  which  had  prompted  this  reverence.  As  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  he  took  a  strong  ground  against  the 
divorce  evil,  saying  in  his  message  to  the  Legislature 
of  1905:  "It  is  better  that  a  few  individuals  should 
suffer  from  being  unhappily  married  than  that  the 
public  view  with  reference  to  the  solemnity  and  per- 
manence of  the  marriage  relation  should  be  in  the 
slightest  degree  weakened.  Wedlock  ought  not  to  be 
entered  into  lightly,  but  when  it  is  once  entered  into,  it 
ought,  save  for  Scriptural  causes,  to  be  inviolable." 

Being  at  once  absolutely  free  from  affectation,  and 
a  typical    product   of    North   Carolina,  knowing   its 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  187 

people  and  their  history  and  their  conditions  and  hav- 
ing shared  their  poverty  and  their  toil,  he  illustrated 
Emerson's  saying,  "The  men  who  carry  their  points 
do  not  need  to  inquire  of  their  constituents  what  they 
should  say,  but  are  themselves  the  country  which  they 
represent:  nowhere  are  its  emotions  or  opinions  so  in- 
stant and  true  as  in  them,  nowhere  so  pure  from  a  self- 
ish infusion."  One  of  Aycock's  close  friends  has  said: 
"The  Governor  was  never  obtrusive  or  argumentative, 
but  expressed  his  views  in  such  a  simple  and  direct  way 
that  they  did  not  invite  argument,  but  seemed  to  be  the 
conclusions  reached  by  his  hearers  themselves.  And 
right  here  was  one  of  the  evidences  of  the  power  of  this 
man.  He  looked  at  things  so  directly  and  sincerely 
and  with  such  common  sense  —  in  the  literal  meaning 
of  these  two  words  —  that  his  views  seemed  quite  like 
reflections  of  one's  own  thoughts."  On  the  same  point 
another  friend  has  written  us:  "Governor  Ay  cock 
once  gave  me  a  definition  of  eloquence  that  was  unique. 
He  said  that  it  was  simply  the  response  of  the  common 
sense  —  the  common  or  general  mind  —  to  what  the 
speaker  was  saying.  Slumbering  in  the  minds  of  men 
is  a  sense  of  right  and  justice,  and  the  man  who  can 
interpret  this  feeling  and  give  it  expression,  is  the 
eloquent  man,  and  this  is  why  he  can  so  mightily  move 
men."  In  short,  it  would  seem  as  if  Ay  cock  would 
have  said  with  our  greatest  American  philosopher  that 
the  way  to  speak  and  write  what  shall  not  go  out  of 
fashion  is  simply  to  speak  and  write  sincerely. 

The  friend  who  reports  the  definition  of  eloquence 
we  have  just  given,  says  in  the  same  letter:  "One 
night  in  Lexington  I  remarked  to  Governor  Aycock 


188  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK 

that  I  could  not  understand  why  a  young  man,  even 
if  his  parents  were  Republicans,  could  be  willing  to 
sacrifice  the  social  privileges  that  he  would  be  obliged 
to  forego  in  certain  sections  of  the  State  in  order  to 
vote  with  that  party.  I  can  see  the  earnest  face  of  the 
Governor  yet  as  he  turned  to  me  in  the  moonlight  and 
said  *  Why  that  is  no  reason  at  all  to  a  man  who  believes 
in  his  principles.  If  I  knew  I  was  right,  social  dis- 
crimination directed  against  me  because  of  my  prin- 
ciples would  make  me  stronger  and  more  determined 
to  stand  for  them." 

This  expression  was  thoroughly  characteristic  of 
Aycock  and  illustrates  at  once  his  courage  and  his 
sincerity.  Fittingly,  indeed,  did  Mr.  Charles  W.  Tillett 
say  to  the  young  men  at  the  University  that  the  most 
notable  lesson  of  his  life  is  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  be 
a  hypocrite  or  a  demagogue  in  order  to  be  popular  with 
the  people,  while,  turning  to  President  Venable,  Mr. 
Tillett  added: 

"I  appeal  to  you,  sir,  the  President  of  this  great 
University,  to  emblazon  somewhere  upon  the  walls  of 
these  buildings,  in  letters  of  gold,  set  in  a  frame  of 
silver,  'The  public  life  of  Charles  B.  Aycock  teaches  that 
a  man  may  have  an  abiding  mastery  over  the  affections  of 
the  people  without  sacrificing  either  self-respect  or  prin- 
ciple:" 


CHAPTER  XIII 

aycock's  later  years  and  his  candidacy  for  the 

SENATE 

A  YCOCK'S  last  years  were  probably  his  happiest. 
f-\  He  retired  from  the  Governor's  office  conscious 
***  that  he  had  dared  unpopularity  for  the  sake  of 

principle,  and  that  he  had  won  the  love  as  well  as  the 
confidence  of  his  people,  and  he  had  that  love  in  con- 
stantly increasing  measure  ever  after.  Colonel  Pear- 
sail's  representation  of  his  attitude  is  doubtless  correct. 
"Governor  Aycock  of  course,  appreciated  the  honor 
of  being  Governor  and  especially  the  way  in  which  it 
came  to  him,  but  he  always  felt  the  tremendous  re- 
sponsibility of  the  great  office.  It  really  was  slightly 
oppressive  to  him:  he  was  a  humble  man  and  had  not 
the  slightest  tinge  of  vanity  or  conceit.  He  was  very 
glad  when  his  term  of  office  ended,  not  that  he  wished 
to  shirk  any  responsibility,  but  he  had  done  all  that 
he  could  do  and  was  anxious  to  get  back  to  the  life  of  a 
private  citizen." 

Moreover,  in  view  of  the  certain  degree  of  dignity 
the  Governor  must  maintain  in  the  Mansion  and  before 
the  people,  and  the  inevitable  calls  upon  his  purse,  it 
was  a  pitifully  inadequate  salary  that  the  people  of 
North  Carolina  paid  him  as  Governor  —  $4,000  per 
year.     An  incident  he  liked  to  tell  was  this:     While 

189 


190  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Governor,  he  made  a  trip  to  his  old  home  in  Goldsboro, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  visit  ran  across  an  old  negro, 
Calvin  Rock,  who  had  educated  himself,  learning  his 
letters  from  an  alphabet  scrawled  on  a  pine  shingle  by 
a  country  carpenter,  and  had  also  acquired  consider- 
able possessions  by  his  industry  and  prudence. 

"I's  mighty  glad  to  see  you,  Mr.  Aycock,"  he  said, 
"and  mighty  glad  you  are  Guv'ner  of  the  State."  And 
then  he  laughed  the  dar&y's  contagious  chuckle.  "As 
fer  me,"  he  continued,  "you  know  I  couldn't  affo'd 
to  be  Guv'ner." 

"Couldn't  afford  to  be  Governor?  Why  not,  Cal- 
vin?" 

"Cause  you  see,  sir,  I  gits  more  fer  my  strawberries 
than  North  Ca'liny  pays  the  Guv'ner  for  a  whole  year's 
work!" 

It  is  not  surprising  that  he  left  the  Governor's  office 
$8,000  in  debt;  nor  is  it  surprising,  in  view  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  man,  that  he  promptly  suppressed  a  move- 
ment for  a  popular  subscription  to  pay  off  this  amount. 

He  resumed  his  law  practice  with  his  old  friend  and 
partner,  Frank  A.  Daniels;  was  reelected  to  his  old 
position  of  trustee  of  the  Goldsboro  schools,  and  settled 
down  with  his  growing  family  to  the  simple  life  of  a 
Goldsboro  citizen.  He  had  remarked  while  Governor 
that  he  feared  the  people  ever  after  would  expect  a 
certain  uncomfortable  dignity  in  him  —  "For  one 
thing,  my  friends,  I  can  never  go  barefooted  again"  — 
but  he  wore  his  honors  lightly,  and  the  poorest  man  in 
Goldsboro,  white  or  black,  did  not  hesitate  to  approach 
him  with  confidence  when  in  "hard  luck  "  or  menaced  by 
the  blind-folded  goddess.     "I  miss  him  as  I  would  one 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  191 

of  my  brothers,"  said  a  poorly  clad  workingman  for- 
merly of  Goldsboro  but  now  of  Raleigh,  who  was  in  the 
writer's  office  a  short  time  ago.  "  The  poor  folks  in 
Goldsboro  never  had  a  better  friend;  not  even  the 
poorest,  nine  tenths  of  whom  never  paid  him.  I  was 
arrested  here  in  Raleigh  on  a  false  charge,  and  he  heard 
of  it  and  at  once  went  on  my  bond,  had  me  taken  out, 
and  got  my  case  out  of  court,  and  didn't  charge  me  a 
cent." 

Governor  Aycock  remained  in  Goldsboro  from  Jan- 
uary, 1905,  to  February,  1909,  when  he  moved  to 
Raleigh,  because  of  better  business  opportunities, 
forming  a  congenial  and  profitable  partnership  with  ex- 
Judge  R.  W.  Winston,  who  came  from  Durham  to  join 
him. 

Satisfied  with  the  political  honors  he  had  had,  Ay- 
cock  retired  from  the  Governor's  office  content  to 
follow  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  coming  before  the 
people  only  when  his  party  needed  his  services,  or  some 
worthy  friend  needed  his  aid,  when  the  cause  of  the 
common  schools  needed  a  champion  somewhere,  or 
some  moral  issue  called  him  into  the  heat  of  the  con- 
flict. He  had  no  craving  for  further  honors.  Soon 
after  his  retirement  as  Governor,  President  Roosevelt 
tendered  him  some  appointment,  which  he  declined. 
In  one  session  of  the  Legislature  he  was  approached  by 
members  who  told  him  that  they  had  a  sufficient  num- 
ber pledged  to  elect  him  without  doubt  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  but  he  not  only  declined,  but  said  he 
would  not  serve  if  elected. 

When  the  campaign  for  state-wide  prohibition  was 
begun  in  1908,  he  took  the  stump  ior  the  "dry"  side 


192  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

and  became  one  of  the  most  powerful  advocates  the 
cause  had.  "I  am  a  Jeffersonian  Democrat  and  was 
reared  in  a  'Hard-shell'  Baptist  home,"  he  declared, 
"and  no  one  believes  more  profoundly  than  I  in  every 
legitimate  application  of  the  doctrine  of  personal 
liberty."  But  he  declared  that  a  man  who  wished  to 
have  his  children  grow  up  in  a  community  free  from  the 
menace  of  barrooms,  had  just  as  much  legal  right  to 
this  form  of  "personal  liberty  "  as  the  whiskey  advocate 
had  to  his  form  —  and  a  stronger  moral  right. 

"Why  am  I  a  prohibitionist?"  he  said.  "Not  to 
take  any  right  away  from  you,  but  to  see  that  you  do 
not  take  any  right  away  from  me.  It  is  not  to  find  out 
whether  another  man  wants  liquor  sold  or  whether 
you  want  it  sold.  You  talk  of  '  personal  liberty.'  The 
retort  is,  that  when  you  force  a  barroom  on  me,  you 
take  away  my  liberty. 

"What  does  prohibition  mean?  It  means  a  people 
calmly,  judiciously,  sacrificing  their  appetite  upon  the 
altar  of  their  children's  uplift.  This  people  like  liquor 
—  I  will  say  'we'  like  liquor.  Suppose  we  do.  That 
is  the  test.  It  wouldn't  cost  anything  to  give  up  some- 
thing we  didn't  want.  It  would  give  no  power,  no 
grace.  How  does  a  people  become  great?  By  grati- 
fying their  passions  and  appetites?  No,  by  sacrificing 
them.  Point  out  the  boys  who  are  going  to  make  this 
a  great  strong  people  and  you  will  see  them  willing 
to  forego  their  appetites  and  their  passions  for  the  privi- 
lege of  enjoying  the  glory  of  to-morrow.  As  with  these 
individuals,  so  with  all  boys  and  girls,  and  as  with  them 
so  with  the  State.  No  State  ever  grew  great  except 
through  the  willing  sacrifice  of  appetite." 

In  his  speech  in  Raleigh,  he  based  his  powerful  appeal 
on  the  need  of  efficiency  in  all  the  people  and  an  arraign- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  193 

ment  of  whiskey  as  a  foe  to  all  forms  of  efficiency. 
"But  you  poor  people  say,"  he  declared,  "that  with 
prohibition,  the  rich  people  can  get  liquor  and  the  poor 
can't.  Very  well,  you  will  not  be  hurt.  If  the  rich 
allow  their  sons  to  use  whiskey,  wealth  and  power  will 
slip  away  from  them  and  your  sons  will  themselves  be 
the  rich  men  of  to-morrow." 

As  a  young  man  of  twenty-one,  he  cast  one  of  his 
first  votes  for  state-wide  prohibition  in  August,  1881  — 
"I  was  mighty  lonesome  then,"  he  declared  in  1908  — 
and  in  every  local  option  election  in  Goldsboro,  he  was 
a  conspicuous  worker  for  the  temperance  cause.  "I 
believe  prohibition  will  decrease  the  number  of  drunk- 
ards in  our  rising  generation  of  North  Carolinians  fully 
66f  per  cent.,"  he  once  remarked  to  the  writer,  and  he 
insisted  that  there  was  no  conflict  between  prohibition 
and  Democratic  doctrine.  "A  Democrat  is  a  man 
who  believes  in  the  individual  and  thinks  his  rights 
ought  not  to  be  restricted  in  any  respect  save  only  so 
far  as  is  essential  to  the  peace  and  progress  of  his  neigh- 
bors," was  his  statement  of  the  correct  party  principle 
as  he  gave  it  in  1910. 

Education,  temperance  legislation,  tariff  reform  and 
better  laws  about  factory  child  labor  —  these  were  the 
public  questions  he  was  most  interested  in  during  his 
last  years.  In  the  last  letter  the  writer  received  from 
him,  he  mentioned  the  abolition  of  "injurious  child 
labor"  as  one  of  the  things  most  needed  in  North  Caro- 
lina. He  himself  had  stated  the  whole  case  most  for- 
cibly in  a  message  to  the  Legislature  of  1903:  "There 
is  great  necessity  for  the  development  of  our  industries. 
I  am  glad  to  see  them  increase  in  number  and  grow  in 


194  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

prosperity.  But  there  is  no  such  imperative  necessity 
for  the  creation  and  accumulation  of  wealth  as  to  jus- 
tify us  in  the  sacrifice  of  child  life  to  secure  it.  Indeed, 
the  State  will  grow  richer  by  preserving  the  health  and 
developing  the  minds  and  hearts  of  these  children  than 
it  can  possibly  grow  by  the  creation  of  any  values  which 
their  puny  arms  can  win." 

Always  profoundly  interested  in  the  tariff,  Aycock 
took  an  especially  deep  interest  in  the  tariff  legislation 
adopted  by  Congress  after  the  Democratic  victory 
in  1910.  To  him,  as  to  Gladstone,  it  was  always  a 
question  to  be  considered  primarily  in  its  moral  aspects. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  question  of  mere  abstract  poli- 
tics had  much  fascination  for  Aycock.  He  was  es- 
sentially a  crusader  and  it  was  not  without  reason  that 
Mrs.  Aycock  selected  the  Scripture  reading  for  his 
funeral  from  the  fortieth  Psalm  beginning,  "I  have 
preached  righteousness  in  the  great  congregation. ' '  He 
was  never  at  his  best,  either  before  a  jury  or  on  the 
stump,  until  he  felt  that  he  was  fighting  for  a  great 
moral  principle  or  some  measure  of  human  uplift.  It 
was  this  that  made  his  educational  addresses  so  power- 
ful. And  with  him,  protection  was  never  simply  a 
Republican  policy  to  be  combated  by  him  as  a  Demo- 
crat, but  a  moral  iniquity  to  be  denounced  as  one  would 
denounce  any  theft,  whether  recognized  by  law  or  not, 
whereby  wealth  was  taken  from  some  people  and  given 
to  others.  Writing  to  one  of  our  United  States  Sen- 
ators on  May  20,  1909,  he  said: 

"I  am,  of  course,  perfectly  aware  that  a  tariff  levied 
for  revenue  only  will  necessarily  result  in  protection, 
but  if  a  tariff  is  honestly  levied  for  revenue,  the  ques- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  195 

tion  uppermost  in  the  consideration  of  tariff  bills  will 
be  the  revenue,  and  special  interests  will  not  and  can- 
not have  such  power  over  shaping  the  schedules.  I  do 
not  believe  that  we  ought  to  break  down  in  any  degree 
the  bar  between  Republicans  and  Democrats  on  this 
position,  and  I  have  never  been  able  to  understand  how, 
when  it  suits  our  necessities,  we  can  show  that  a  tariff 
does  not  increase  the  cost  to  the  consumer.  Either  a 
tariff  does  not  benefit  the  manufacturer  or  producer,  or 
it  does  increase  the  cost  to  the  consumer.  Of  course, 
I  am  not  unaware  that  this  general  principle  may  in 
special  circumstances  fail  to  work,  but  the  general 
rule  is  unquestioned  and  ought  always  to  be  kept  be- 
fore us.     .     .     . 

"I  have  certain  definite  convictions  on  the  subject 
growing  out  of  the  study  of  the  tariff  when  I  was  a 
Cleveland  elector  in  1888  and  again  in  1892.  I  then 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  a  protective  tariff  was  an 
absolute  immorality,  leading  to  all  sorts  of  corruption 
and  creating  class  interests  and  class  feeling.  I  came 
to  another  conclusion,  and  that  was  that  Mr.  Cleveland 
never  got  beyond  the  ABCof  tariff  reform.  He  was 
dominated  by  the  New  England  idea  and  was  clamoring 
for  free  raw  material.  New  England  had  about  con- 
sumed her  raw  material  and  took  up  tariff  reform,  or 
rather  took  up  free  trade  in  raw  material,  and  exploited 
the  Democratic  party  along  this  line.  The  only  true 
Democratic  standpoint  is,  tariff  for  revenue,  and 
levied  with  a  view  to  producing  the  most  revenue  with 
the  least  burden  upon  the  masses.  In  my  conviction, 
any  other  tariff  is  a  monstrosity." 

He  did  not  believe  that  the  question  of  "incidental 
protection"  should  ever  be  considered,  for  once  you 
waive  the  point  that  it  is  immoral  to  consider  protec- 
tion in  any  form,  you  break  the  dike  and  invite  the 
whole  flood  of  evil.     In  a  letter  to  Governor  Jarvis  of 


196  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

April  1,  1912,  he  said,  referring  to  his  speech  prepared 
for  delivery  April  12th:  "I  quote  from  Governor 
Wilson  to  the  effect  that  the  tariff  is  the  chief  issue  of 
this  campaign  and  must  be  reduced  in  accordance  with 
Democratic  doctrine  and  in  such  a  fashion  as  not  too 
violently  to  upset  business.  I  am  in  just  a  little  doubt 
about  the  wisdom  of  the  quotation  from  Governor 
Wilson  lest  it  should  be  misunderstood  by  zealous  tariff 
reformers.  For  my  part,  if  I  were  in  the  Senate,  I 
would  never  consider  the  question  of  protection  in 
framing  a  tariff  bill." 

In  all  his  political  career,  Aycock  preached  and 
exemplified  the  high  doctrine  proclaimed  by  Robert 
Toombs  fifty  years  ago  when  he  told  his  brother 
Senators  to  abolish  the  mint  at  Dahlonega,  Ga. 
It  was  not  needed,  he  said,  and  he  was  not  going  to 
advocate  an  appropriation  for  it  merely  because  the 
money  would  come  to  his  own  State.  "I  am  just  as 
much  opposed  to  an  abuse  in  Georgia  as  I  am  to  an 
abuse  in  New  York,"  he  said;  and  then  he  uttered  this 
sentiment  which  ought  to  be  immortal:  "Whenever 
the  system  shall  be  firmly  established  that  the  States 
will  enter  a  miserable  scramble  for  the  most  money  for 
their  local  appropriations,  and  that  Senator  is  to  be 
regarded  the  ablest  representative  of  his  State  who  can 
get  for  it  the  largest  slice  of  the  treasury,  from  that  day 
public  honor  and  property  are  gone  and  all  the  States 
are  disgraced  and  degraded."  This  was  Ay  cock's 
doctrine,  and  in  a  letter  of  November,  1911,  he  ex- 
pressed these  emphatic  views: 

"If  the  people  really  want  special  privileges  for 
North  Carolina,  or  particular  accommodations,  they  will 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  197 

certainly  do  better  to  select  one  of  the  other  candi- 
dates. If  any  individual  thinks  more  highly  of  him- 
self than  another  and  believes  the  Government  owes 
to  him  some  special  favor  which  does  not  of  right  belong 
to  others,  he  ought  to  vote  for  one  of  my  opponents. 
Any  one  of  them  can  serve  him  better  than  I  can,  for  if 
I  go  to  the  Senate,  I  shall  go  untrammeled  and  with  the 
firm  determination  to  serve  the  whole  people,  not  only 
of  North  Carolina  but  of  the  United  States,  and  no 
man  nor  any  set  of  men  shall  have  the  right  to  expect 
of  me  anything  other  than  faithful  service  to  all.  Of 
course,  I  should  not  be  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  I 
was  a  Senator  from  North  Carolina,  and  that  no  legis- 
lation should  be  passed  of  a  sectional  character  or  of  a 
local  character  to  the  injury  of  my  State,  but  I  should 
certainly  not  expect  my  State  to  gain  any  special 
privileges." 

His  resentment  against  all  injustice  also  went  aflame 
when  he  came  to  consider  the  freight  discriminations 
against  North  Carolina,  which  he  frequently  denounced. 
In  a  letter  to  Senator  Simmons,  May  12,  1911,  he  said. 
"I  hope  that  you  can  do  something  on  the  long  and 
short  haul  business.  The  discrimination  against 
North  Carolina  is  outrageous.  If  you  could  in  any 
manner  change  this  you  would  have  accomplished  the 
greatest  work  for  the  State,  financially,  that  has  been 
done  in  this  generation." 

In  view  of  Aycock's  statesman-like  qualities,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  North  Carolinians  were  constantly 
expressing  the  wish  that  he  were  again  in  public 
service,  but  such  things  moved  him  not.  Writing 
Mr.  C.  W.  Tillett,  in  May,  1909,  he  said:  "I  have 
neither  desire  nor  expectation  of  ever  entering  the 
political  field  again."     Seven  months  later,  when  the 


198  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

demand  that  he  become  a  candidate  for  Senator  had 
grown  more  insistent,  his  mind  had  not  changed  and 
he  stated  his  position  with  great  clearness  in  a  letter 
he  addressed  to  the  writer,  January  27,  1910: 

"I  received  your  letter  some  time  since,  asserting 
that  the  people  would  demand  my  services  for  the 
United  States  Senate.  I  have  given  to  this  matter 
that  degree  of  consideration  to  which  the  earnestness 
of  my  friends  entitles  it,  and  I  have  deliberately  and 
finally  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  are  no  cir- 
cumstances under  which  I  would  become  a  candidate 
for  the  Senate.  I  have  neither  inclination  nor  desire 
to  run  for  the  office.  The  place  itself  used  to  have  some 
attractions  for  me,  but  even  the  attractions  have 
passed  away.  I  am  content  with  my  public  career,  and 
I  believe  that  I  have  done  all  that  my  duty  requires 
of  me. 

"  My  own  conviction  is,  that  the  generation  to  which 
I  belong,  those  in  and  around  fifty  years,  will  never 
furnish  to  the  South  the  leadership  which  it  must  have. 
We  came  on  during,  or  at  the  end  of  the  war,  and  our 
environment  has  been  such  that  we  were  compelled  to 
devote  ourselves  to  local  issues.  These  issues  were 
important;  indeed,  they  were  vital.  The  future  of  our 
State  and  section  depended  upon  their  right  solution. 
But,  vital  as  they  were,  they  were  narrow,  and  in  the 
discussion  of  them  and  in  working  them  out,  we  im- 
bibed passions  and  prejudices  that  unfitted  us  for 
great  work  on  the  stage  of  the  nation.  It  was  my  hope, 
and  still  is,  that  our  labors  would  not  be  in  vain,  but 
would  produce  a  stronger  and  broader  leadership  out 
of  the  generation  to  which  you  belong.  That  is  my 
firm  belief  now.  At  present,  I  do  not  think  it  makes 
the  slightest  difference  whom  we  have  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  but  in  the  course  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
years,   a  new  day  will    dawn   for   us,  and   Southern 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  199 

statesmanship,   well  trained,   well   equipped,    broad- 
minded,  honest,  will  again  be  in  demand." 


In  March,  1911,  being  urged  to  reconsider,  in  view 
of  the  Democratic  victory  in  the  preceding  election, 
and  the  greater  possibilities  for  usefulness  in  Washing- 
ton, his  reply  was:  "I  am  not  in  a  financial  condition 
to  enter  into  such  a  contest  for  Senator  as  seems  to 
lie  before  me.  If  I  were  in  such  a  condition,  I  still 
could  not  do  it,  because  I  do  not  believe  in  such  a  fight." 
The  same  month  he  had  written  Mr.  Walter  Murphey : 
'"They  [such  letters]  are  coming  daily  and  they  are  em- 
barrassing me.  All  my  life  I  have  been  doing  as  near 
as  might  be  what  my  friends  wanted  me  to  do,  and  it 
is  extremely  annoying  to  be  so  situated  as  to  appear 
not  to  appreciate  the  good  will  and  kind  intentions  of 
my  friends.  I  certainly  do  appreciate  both,  but  I  can- 
not now  find  it  my  duty  to  become  a  candidate  for  the 
Senate." 

But  his  friends  finally  prevailed.  As  he  wrote  Mr. 
C.  0.  McMichael,  on  May  18,  1911:  "Though  my 
judgment  has  been  and  still  is  against  entering  the  race, 
I  cannot  resist  the  insistence  of  my  friends  that  it  is 
my  duty  to  do  so."  The  same  day  he  wrote  former 
Governor  Glenn:  "Against  my  own  judgment,  but  in 
deference  to  the  wisdom  of  my  friends,  I  am  going  to 
do  so,  and,  of  course,  after  entering  the  race  I  shall 
want  to  win." 

The  letter  in  which  he  announced  his  candidacy  is 
printed  in  full  elsewhere  in  this  book.  It  struck  a  bold, 
clear  note  and  provoked  an  instant  popular  response. 
Its  only  weakness  was  this  paragraph:      "It  is  un- 


200  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

necessary  for  me  to  enunciate  any  personal  platform, 
it  being  well  known  throughout  the  State  that  I  have 
always  stood  on  the  National  and  State  Democratic 
platforms  without  question,  believing  as  I  do  that  the 
assembled  wisdom  of  the  Democracy  of  the  nation  and 
State  is  far  greater  than  my  own." 

Aycock  thought,  of  course,  that  he  had  expressed 
himself  so  emphatically  upon  all  the  vital  political 
issues  that  it  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  say  more, 
but  in  this  he  was  unwise.  If  he  had  immediately 
followed  his  announcement  with  such  a  ringing  dec- 
laration of  his  beliefs  as  he  enunciated  in  his  speech 
prepared  for  delivery  on  April  12,  1912,  it  is  impossible 
to  say  what  a  response  he  would  have  evoked.  As  it 
was,  he  actually  did  himself  an  injustice  in  the  para- 
graph which  we  have  quoted.  He  Avas  not  a  man  who 
would  have  been  content  to  sit  still  and  "take  instruc- 
tions." He  not  only  had  the  most  positive  convictions 
about  all  the  great  questions  of  the  time,  but  he  be- 
lieved so  profoundly  in  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  Democratic  Party  that  he  would  not  have  accepted 
office  on  a  platform  he  believed  contrary  to  these  fun- 
damental principles.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Fred  R.  Yoder, 
November  20,  1911,  he  said: 

"This  office  belongs  to  the  people  of  North  Carolina 
and  they  select  the  Senator  to  serve  them,  and  they 
make  the  platform  upon  which  he  is  to  stand,  and  give 
him  his  instructions  as  to  measures  and  principles 
which  he  shall  advocate.  I  am  a  Democrat  and  would 
not  accept  the  office  if  the  Democrats  were  to  instruct 
me  to  advocate  any  doctrine  contrary  to  the  principles 
of  that  party.     I  am  willing  to  leave  the  principles  of 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  201 

the  party  to  the  declaration  of  the  people  in  convention 
assembled.  If  that  declaration  should  be  against  any 
ronviction  of  mine,  involving  principle,  I  would  not 
accept  the  service  of  a  Senator.  If  the  declaration  of 
principles  is  in  harmony  with  what  I  believe,  I  can  only 
refer  to  my  past  career  while  Governor  of  North  Caro- 
lina for  the  fidelity  with  which  I  shall  carry  them  out." 

Of  the  feverish  impatience  for  political  aid  which  so 
many  candidates  betray,  Ay  cock  gave  no  evidence. 
The  nearest  he  came  to  asking  any  man's  support  was 
to  write  an  occasional  letter  when  he  heard  of  some  man 
declaring  for  him:  "I  have  been  told  that  you  favor 
my  candidacy.  I  wish  to  express  my  appreciation  of 
your  friendship.  If  my  information  is  incorrect,  do 
not  let  this  letter  embarrass  you  in  the  least."  He 
preferred  to  talk  of  other  things  rather  than  his  per- 
sonal ambitions,  and  the  writer,  though  seeing  him 
frequently,  heard  him  mention  his  candidacy  only  once 
or  twice  in  the  six  months  following  his  announcement. 
Mr.  M.  R.  Dunnaway  writes  us  in  referring  to  a  con- 
versation with  Aycock  after  his  address  at  the  Oxford 
Orphan  Asylum  in  1911 :  "Although  his  candidacy  for 
the  nomination  to  the  office  of  United  States  Senator 
had  been  announced,  he  dismissed  the  matter  with  a 
few  words  and  ardently  discoursed  on  the  work  to  which 
his  whole  life  had  been  unselfishly  dedicated  —  the 
advancement  and  improvement  of  the  citizenship  of 
North  Carolina  through  the  education  of  the  youth." 

It  is  useless  to  speculate  upon  what  would  have 
been  the  result  of  the  Senatorial  contest  had  Aycock 
lived.  Whether  those  who  think  he  would  have  won 
are  right,  or  those  who  think  he  would  not,  does  not 


202  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

concern  his  fame.  As  he  said  of  the  Confederate  sol- 
dier, "We  need  not  ask  his  relation  to  either  victory  or 
defeat,  but  only  how  he  bore  himself,"  and  his  conduct 
in  this  respect,  the  way  he  bore  himself,  constitutes  a 
higher  honor  than  any  mere  election  to  the  United 
States  Senate  would  have  been.  For  his  opponents 
he  had  only  the  utmost  good  will.  When  an  ardent 
supporter  came  to  him  the  week  before  his  death  with 
some  story  about  Governor  Kitchin,  his  reply  was: 
"Well,  let's  hear  no  more  of  that.  Governor  Kitchin 
is  a  good  man  and  I  don't  want  my  friends  to  cherish 
any  bitterness  toward  him."  To  Judge  Clark,  he  not 
only  paid  a  just  tribute  in  the  manuscript  of  his  last 
unpublished  speech,  but  said  to  his  stenographer  later, 
"I  must  add  a  sentence  or  two  in  recognition  of  Judge 
Clark's  services  as  a  Confederate  Soldier."  With 
Senator  Simmons  his  relations  were  even  closer.  Three 
days  before  announcing  his  candidacy  he  wrote  Mr. 
Simmons:  "I  have  at  last  concluded  to  enter  the 
Senatorial  race,  and  before  making  any  announcement 
of  it,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  say  so  to  you.  I  hope  you 
know  this  determination  does  not  rise  out  of  any  an- 
tagonism to  you  or  to  your  ambitions,  and  I  sincerely 
trust  it  will  not  have  the  slightest  effect  on  our  cordial 
relations  of  a  life-time  friendship."  Senator  Simmons 
replied  in  an  equally  cordial  vein. 

But  while  Aycock  had  long  had  friendly  relations 
with  Senator  Simmons,  it  cut  him  to  the  quick  to  have 
people  think  that  he  was  running  in  Mr.  Simmons's 
interest,  or  might  retire  in  his  favor.  The  last  political 
letter  he  ever  signed  was  in  denunciation  of  this  idea. 
The  suggestion  hurt  Aycock  simply  because  such  a 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  203 

policy  would  have  been  disingenuous  —  entirely  out 
of  keeping  with  all  his  life-long  record  for  candor,  open- 
ness and  frank  dealing  with  the  people  —  and  that  any 
one  could  suspect  him  of  assuming  any  other  attitude, 
or  of  being  a  party  to  any  deception,  however  remote, 
galled  his  soul.  "It  is  the  first  time  in  my  life,"  he 
said,  "that  I  have  ever  had  reason  to  complain  of  my 
friends." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

aycock's  last  days  and  his  relations 
to  his  family 

IN  HIS  last  years  Aycock,  was  frequently  attacked 
by  the  heart  trouble  which  finally  proved  fatal. 
These  attacks  came  almost  invariably  at  night, 
and  through  many  a  weary  midnight  and  hours  slow- 
creeping  toward  the  dawn,  his  devoted  wife  and  family, 
and  no  less  devoted  brother-in-law,  Dr.  Albert  Ander- 
son, labored  together  to  avert  the  death  that  more  than 
once  seemed  to  threaten  him.  But  only  the  most  ex- 
hausting or  excruciating  pain  could  keep  him  at  home 
when  daylight  and  duty  called.  The  night  before  he 
made  his  address  on  Robert  E.  Lee,  January  19, 1912,  an 
attack  that  really  threatened  to  prove  fatal,  so  exhausted 
him  that  he  was  forced  to  remain  in  bed  all  next  day, 
getting  up  only  in  time  to  summon  his  reserve  vitality 
and  deliver  his  speech  with  a  serenity  that  belied  his  real 
condition. 

In  February,  an  examination  showed  his  heart  to  be 
in  such  condition  that  a  month's  treatment  by  the 
famous  specialist,  Doctor  Stengel,  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  Hospital,  was  not  only  advised  but 
peremptorily  ordered.  The  treatment  seemed  to  be 
beneficial;  he  gained  several  pounds  and  returned  in 
good  spirits.     In  a  letter  written  to  his  old  friend,  Judge 

204 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  205 

W.  S.  O'B.  Robinson,  March  26,  1912,  his  optimism 
is  illustrated: 

"Dear  Bill:  I  am  glad  that  you  are  glad,  but  I 
am  the  more  glad  that  I  am  really  much  improved  in 
every  way  —  stronger,  better,  fatter,  cheerfuller.  There 
really  is  no  ground  for  your  being  blue.  When  spring 
really  comes  you  will  be  as  happy  as  the  birds  and  your 
mind  as  clean  and  sweet  as  the  wet  violets." 

This  optimism  Aycock  maintained  to  the  last. 
Even  at  Birmingham  the  day  of  his  death,  April  4, 1912, 
when  something  was  said  about  Senator  Bob  Taylor's 
despondency  having  hastened  his  end,  Aycock  re- 
marked, "That  will  ruin  any  man.  Some  of  my  friends 
tried  to  make  me  believe  that  I  was  going  to  die,  but 
I'm  not.  I  have  gained  six  pounds  in  the  last  six 
weeks." 

That  night  a  great  audience  packed  the  Jefferson 
Theatre  from  pit  to  topmost  gallery  to  hear  the  "Educa- 
tional Governor  of  North  Carolina."  Practically  every 
seat  was  taken,  and  Aycock  was  at  his  best.  He 
played  on  his  audience  as  some  famous  master  on  his 
musical  instrument.  His  gentle  humor  was  contagious. 
His  homely,  "folksy"  illustrations  carried  his  message 
to  both  mind  and  heart.  And  when  he  proclaimed 
with  thrilling  eloquence,  "Oh,  my  friends,  I  thank 
Almighty  God,  who  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  that  you 
cannot  get  the  best  for  your  boy  and  your  girl  until  you 
are  ready  to  give  the  best  to  my  boy  and  my  girl,"  the 
vast  audience  responded  as  if  with  a  shout.  Then  as 
he  was  on  the  verge  of  illustrating  a  point  by  his  fre- 
quently used  story  of  how  he  spoke  to  the  deaf  children 


206  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

at  Morganton,  he  turned  to  Governor  O'Neal  and  said, 
"You  cannot  talk  to  an  audience  that  cannot  hear. 
Governor,  did  you  ever  try  it?  Well,  I  have.  When  I 
was  Governor  I  made  speeches  all  over  North  Carolina. 
I  canvassed  the  State  for  four  years  in  behalf  of  the 
children  of  the  State,  right  straight  along.  Sometimes 
on  Sundays  they  asked  me  down  to  the  church  to  talk, 
and  I  always  talked  about  education " 

He  got  no  further.  With  "education"  as  the  last 
word  that  fell  from  his  lips,  he  "threw  up  his  hands, 
reeled  backward  and  fell  down  dead  before  the  thou- 
sands who  had  just  been  applauding  him." 

No  North  Carolinian  ever  had  a  more  dramatic  end. 
Death  came  to  him  without  warning,  unheralded; 
surprised  him  in  the  midst  of  the  day's  duties;  and  yet 
he  had  so  lived  that  he  needed  no  preparation  and 
destiny  itself  could  not  have  better  staged  his  taking 
off.  He  died  pleading  for  the  cause  of  all  causes  near- 
est his  heart  —  the  education  of  all  the  children.  The 
last  word  he  uttered  was  "education."  The  last  ad- 
dress he  had  been  preparing  was  one  he  expected  to 
deliver  at  the  unveiling  of  the  monument  to  his  educa- 
tional co-worker,  Dr.  Charles  D.  Mclver.  The  last 
political  letter  he  ever  signed  was  one  deploring  all 
bitterness  and  speaking  most  generously  of  his  oppo- 
nents. The  last  address  he  had  concluded  was  one  he 
had  prepared  for  delivery  on  April  12th,  so  lofty  in  con- 
ception, so  magnanimous  in  spirit,  that  not  a  word 
jarred  the  supporters  of  other  candidates  when  it  was 
published  without  the  alteration  of  a  syllable  the  Sun- 
day after  his  funeral.  And  if  he  had  foreseen  that  the 
last  paragraph  would  be  his  last  word  to  the  people  of 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  207 

his  State,  he  probably  would  not  have  changed  a  letter 
of  it:  "EQUAL!  That  is  the  word!  On  that  word 
I  plant  myself  and  my  party  —  the  equal  right  of  every 
child  born  on  earth  to  have  the  opportunity  'to  bur- 
geon out  all  there  is  within  him.'  "  It  was  also  singu- 
larly fitting  that  his  funeral  was  held  on  Easter  Sunday, 
the  day  commemorative  of  the  resurrection  of  the  Mas- 
ter he  served,  and  symbolic  of  the  personal  resurrec- 
tion in  which  he  believed  with  the  implicit  faith  of  a 
little  child. 

Never  in  the  history  of  the  State  was  there  more 
universal  mourning  for  any  man.  "In  my  long  life 
of  seventy-eight  years,"  said  the  sagelike  Rev.  J.  D. 
Hufham,  "I  have  known  all  great  North  Carolinians 
of  my  time  —  Graham,  Manly,  Morehead,  Reid,  Bragg, 
Ransom,  Vance,  and  others  —  but  Aycock  was  without 
doubt  the  most  beloved  man  in  the  history  of  the  State. 
His  political  opponents  were  as  sincere  and  unrestrained 
as  his  political  friends  in  their  sorrow  for  the  passing  of 
the  man  pronounced  by  common  consent  "the  greatest 
North  Carolinian  of  his  time."  But  with  all  the  wealth 
of  tributes  uttered  by  "  the  mighty  man  and  the  man  of 
war,  the  judge  and  the  prophet,  the  prudent  and  the 
ancient,  the  counselor  and  the  eloquent  orator,"  there 
was  not  another  that  would  have  so  touched  his  great 
heart  as  that  of  which  the  minister  told  beside  the 
flower-laden  coffin,  the  story  of  the  little  girl  in  Raleigh, 
no  blood  or  bone  of  his,  "I  wish  God  had  let  me  die 
instead  of  Governor  Aycock,"  she  said  to  her  mother. 
"He  could  do  so  much  good  and  I  can  do  so  little." 
Some  one  has  said,  "We  admire  our  friends  for  what 
they  do ;  we  love  them  for  what  they  are."      The  people 


208  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

of  North  Carolina  not  only  admired  Aycock  but  loved 
him,  and  in  the  keeping  of  their  love  his  fame  is  secure. 
As  these  words  are  written,  the  monument  that  their 
gratitude  will  erect  in  the  capital  of  the  State  has  not 
taken  form,  and  the  stone  has  not  been  carved  to  mark 
even  "the  low  mound  where  he  lies."  And  yet  it  may 
well  be  said  that  with  the  simple  affection  of  the  people 
he  loved  and  served  —  the  poor  man  to  whom  he  was 
ever  a  brother,  the  rich  man  to  whom  he  was  ever  just, 
the  State's  womanhood  to  which  he  was  ever  reverent, 
and  the  little  children  whose  hopes  and  possibilities 
were  ever  on  his  mind  and  heart  —  he  still,  in  Milton's 
phrase  — 

"  Sepulchred  in  such  pomp  dost  lie, 
That  kings  for  such  a  tomb  would  wish  to  die." 

Governor  Aycock  was  twice  married  —  first  in  1881 
to  Miss  Varina  Davis  Woodard,  daughter  of  Elder 
William  Woodard,  of  Wilson  County,  a  young  woman 
whose  beautiful  character  endeared  her  to  all  who  knew 
her.  She  died  in  1890,  leaving  two  children,  Charles 
B.  Aycock,  Jr.,  (who  died  in  1901),  and  a  daughter, 
Alice  Varina,  who  was  married  May  29,  1912,  to  Mr. 
Clarence  Poe,  her  engagement  having  been  announced 
but  a  few  weeks  before  Governor  Aycock's  death. 

In  1891,  Mr.  Aycock  married  Miss  Cora  Lily  Wood- 
ard, a  younger  sister  of  his  first  wife,  who  worthily 
shared  his  honors  and  his  burdens  for  a  score  of  years, 
and  survives  him  with  seven  children:  William  Ben- 
jamin, Mary  Lily,  Connor  Woodard,  John  Lee,  Louise 
Rountree,  Frank  Daniels,  and  Brantley. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  209 

A  whole  chapter  might  be  filled,  if  delicacy  did  not 
forbid,  with  incidents  illustrating  the  beautiful  rela- 
tions existing  between  him,  his  wife  and  children.  He 
did  not  take  his  business  cares  home  with  him;  there 
the  Governor  and  the  lawyer  was  lost  in  the  character 
of  the  husband  and  father.  To  his  wife  he  was  ever  a 
lover  as  well  as  a  husband,  to  his  children  a  comrade  as 
well  as  a  father.  Of  his  oldest  daughter  he  said  but  a 
little  while  before  his  death,  "She  and  I  understand 
each  other  like  brother  and  sister."  Unlike  many 
busy  men,  he  took  an  interest  in  everything  about  the 
home.  Writing  from  the  hospital  a  month  before  his 
death  he  said:  "Bill  really  wrote  me  the  best  letter 
I  have  had  from  home.  He  told  me  how  many  eggs  he 
is  getting  daily  and  the  particular  things  he  had  planted 
in  the  garden." 

In  a  tribute  to  Judge  James  E.  Shepherd,  in  January 
1912,  he  set  forth  his  own  ideal  of  family  life:  "His 
relations  to  his  family  were  perfect.  He  was  a  most 
dutiful  and  devoted  husband,  attentive  to  his  wife  in 
small  things  and  forgetful  of  her  in  nothing  that  could 
contribute  to  her  comfort  and  happiness.  With  his 
boys  he  was  something  of  an  older  boy  than  they, 
but  not  too  much  older  to  be  entirely  companionable. 
He  thought  their  thoughts  and  sympathized  with  their 
ambitions  and  their  different  points  of  view.  He 
knew  that  they  did  not  have  his  experience,  but  he 
had  all  their  experience  and  more,  and  went  back  to 
live  with  them  from  their  own  standpoint." 

Another  passage  in  this  address  on  Judge  Shepherd 
is  undoubtedly  autobiographical  in  its  inspiration  — 
the  reference  to  the  death  of  Judge  Shepherd's  oldest 


210  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

son:  "The  death  of  his  son,  James  E.  Shepherd,  Jr., 
while  just  entering  upon  manhood,  was  a  blow  to  him 
so  deep  and  profound  that  he  never  entirely  recovered 
from  it.  Life  from  thenceforward  never  had  so  rosy  a 
hue  as  before." 

The  death  of  Governor  Aycock's  own  eldest  son, 
Charles  B.  Ay  cock,  Jr.,  in  1901,  was  perhaps  the  hardest 
cross  he  ever  had  to  bear.  The  young  man  was  a  prom- 
ising Junior  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina  and 
bore  a  character  which  showed  that  he  had  observed 
the  injunction  with  which  his  father  (himself  a  perfect 
exemplification  of  that  fine  old  phrase  ("a  high  man") 
would  always  part  with  him,  "Be  a  tall  boy,  Son,  be 
a  tall  boy." 


PART  II 
AYCOCK'S  SPEECHES 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   KEYNOTE   OF   THE   AMENDMENT   CAMPAIGN 

(Address  Accepting  the  Democratic  Nomination  for 
Governor,  April  11,  1900.) 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention: 

THE  language  of  gratitude  ought  to  be  brief,  for 
inadequacy  of  speech  is  never  so  apparent  as 
when  it  seeks  to  convey  a  sense  of  obligation. 
I  am  grateful  to  you  and  to  the  people  whom  you 
represent.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  deeply  so.  My  past 
life  and  service  to  the  State  have  so  little  justified  the 
great  confidence  which  you  show  in  me  to-day  that  I 
am  made  humbly  anxious  for  all  the  rest  of  my  life  to 
approve  to  your  judgment  the  action  of  your  affections. 
This  nomination  has  not  come  to  me  unsought,  but  I 
can  say  with  truth  that  I  have  sought  it  in  honorable 
fashion  and  it  has  come  to  me  free  from  the  taint  of 
contrivance  and  combination.  For  the  office  of  Gover- 
nor itself,  dignified  and  honorable  as  it  is,  made  glorious 
by  the  records  of  a  long  line  of  the  State's  greatest  and 
best  men,  I  have  not  wished,  but  I  have  earnestly 
desired  that  manifestation  of  affection  on  the  part  of 

211 


212  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

the  people  of  North  Carolina  which  finds  its  expression 
in  election  to  the  Governorship.  This  unanimous 
nomination  is  a  joy  to  me,  because  the  good-will  of  my 
fellow  citizens  has  ever  been  a  thing  of  delight  to  me. 
When  I  consider  the  character,  the  ability,  the  service, 
the  fitness  of  the  gentlemen  who  were  named  in  con- 
nection with  this  nomination,  any  one  of  whom  would 
have  done  honor  to  the  State,  I  am  oppressed  with  the 
consciousness  of  my  obligation  to  you,  and  with  fear 
of  my  inability  to  meet  the  demands  which  your  kind- 
ness makes  upon  me.  But_the^fight  is  not  mme,_jior 
shall  I  claim  the  victory  when  it  is  won.  The  contest 
this  year  is  to  Be  made  by  the  people  of  North  Caroling 
and  the  personality  of  men  will  count  for  little. 

rThe  question  for  settlement  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance. It  touches  the  race  question  and  deals  with 
conditions.  For  thirty  years  our  political  battles  have 
been  fought  from  time  to  time  along  race  lines,  while 
we  have  sought  in  vain  to  make  the  theory  of  universal 
suffrage  work  out  good  government  and  private  virtue. 
We  have  found  by  actual  trial  that  it  cannot  be  done. 
Senator  Cullom  tells  us  in  his  report  of  the  Hawaiian 
Commission  that  "the  American  idea  of  universal 
suffrage  presupposes  that  the  body  of  citizens  who  are 
to  exercise  it  in  a  free  and  independent  manner  have  by 
inheritance  or  education  such  knowledge  and  appre- 
ciation of  the  responsibilities  of  free  suffrage  and  of  a 
full  participation  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  country  as  to 
be  able  to  maintain  a  Republican  form  of  government." 
Our  experience  has  taught  us  that  the  negro  has  not 
such  knowledge  either  by  inheritance  or  education. 
The  whole  people  of  North  Carolina  have  undoubtedly 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  213 

come  to  this  conclusion.  All  parties  have  in  different 
ways  and  to  different  extents  recognized  the  incapacity 
of  the  negro  for  government.  In  1875  the  people 
changed  the  Constitution  at  the  instance  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  and  authorized  the  Legislature  to  provide 
for  the  government  of  the  counties.  Under  that  con- 
stitution the  Legislature  provided  a  system  of  county 
government  by  which  the  justices  of  the  peace  in  the 
various  counties  were  appointed  by  the  Legislature 
and  not  elected  by  the  people.  These  justices  in  turn 
chose  the  county  commissioners  who  appointed  the 
various  school  committees  and  passed  upon  the  bonds 
of  the  county  officers  chosen  by  the  people.  The  coun- 
ties of  western  North  Carolina  gave  up  their  much 
loved  right  of  local  government  in  order  to  relieve  their 
brethren  of  the  east  from  the  intolerable  burden  of 
negro  government. 

For  twenty  years  the  Republican  party  waged 
unceasing  warfare  upon  us  against  the  form  of  county 
government  adopted  by  the  Democratic  party.  They 
appeal  to  that  desire  which  has  always  characterized 
our  people  to  participate  in  the  selection  of  the  officers 
closest  to  them.  When  the  Populist  party  came  into 
existence  it  joined  with  the  Republicans  upon  this  issue 
and  together  they  won  a  victory  over  the  Democracy. 
They  came  into  power  with  the  distinct  pledge  to 
restore  to  the  people  local  self-government  and  indeed 
the  act  changing  the  old  system  is  entitled,  "An  Act  to 
restore  to  the  people  of  North  Carolina  local  self-gov- 
ernment," and  yet  coming  into  power  as  they  did  upon 
this  distinct  pledge  they  were  afraid  to  trust  the  negro 
with  the  government  and  put  in  the  statute  a  provision 


214  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

for  the  appointment  by  a  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court 
of  two  additional  county  commissioners,  and  clothed 
these  two  with  more  power  than  the  other  three  chosen 
by  the  people  possessed.  Fear  of  negro  rale  compelled 
the  Republicans  and  Populists  to  introduce  for  the  first 
time  in  North  Carolina  since  the  Democratic  party 
abolished  it  under  the  leadership  of  that  true-hearted 
and  great  North  Carolinian,  Governor  David  S.  Reid, 
a  government  by  freeholders,  for  this  Act  distinctly 
provides  that  the  two  additional  commissioners  shall 
only  be  appointed  upon  the  application  of  200  citizens, 
100  of  whom  shall  be  freeholders.  The  Republicans 
and  Populists  themselves,  thereby,  to  some  extent 
restricted  suffrage  to  those  who  owned  land  in  order  to 
escape  from  the  unbearable  burden  of  negro  rule  in  the 
eastern  counties.  Is  there  any  Republican,  is  there 
any  Populist,  who  will  deny  that  this  provision  was  put 
in  the  statute  as  a  safeguard  against  the  evil  of  negro 
suffrage;  will  any  of  them  pretend  that  any  such  pro- 
vision would  ever  have  been  made  if  only  white  men 
could  vote?  They  thereby  confess,  and  they  have  put 
this  confession  in  the  form  of  a  statute  and  written  it  in 
the  law  books  of  North  Carolina  forever,  that  the  negro, 
where  he  predominates  in  numbers,  cannot  be  trusted  to 
govern.  They  themselves  have  declared  his  unfitness 
and  published  his  incapacity. 

Again,  in  1897,  there  came  into  the  Executive  chair  in 
North  Carolina  a  man,  who  in  a  public  speech  had 
declared  that  he  was  not  a  friend  to  the  white  man  nor 
a  friend  of  the  negro,  but  a  friend  of  man.  With  his 
advent  to  power  the  negro  naturally  forgot  the  days 
when  he  was  regarded  as  a  savage  and  with  expectant 


AYCOCK  AS  HE  APPEARED  WHILE  GOVERNOR 

He  was  then  much  stouter  than  in  his  later  years,  weighing  nearly 
200  pounds.     He  was  about  five  feet  eleven  inches  high. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  215 

joy  listened  to  the  inaugural  address  which  was  to 
usher  in  that  new  and  glorious  day  of  political  equality, 
but  before  that  address  closed  we  hear  this  friend  of 
man  warning  the  Legislature  not  to  turn  the  cities  of 
the  State  over  to  the  "ignorant  and  property  less  ele- 
ments," and  thereby  this  friend  of  man  declared  that 
fond  as  he  was  of  universal  mankind  he  realized  that 
the  negro  is  incapable  of  governing  the  cities  in  which 
he  dominates,  for  surely  it  will  not  be  contended  by 
anybody  that  Governor  Russell  had  other  reference 
than  to  the  negroes  when  he  spoke  of  the  "ignorant  and 
propertyless  elements."  And  the  Legislature  of  1897, 
violent  as  it  was,  determined  as  it  showed  itself  to  be 
to  break  all  ties  with  the  past  and  to  repeal  all  Demo- 
cratic legislation  followed  the  advice  of  the  Governor 
to  the  extent  of  providing  for  the  appointment  by  the 
Governor  in  the  cities  of  New  Bern  and  Wilmington 
additional  aldermen  to  those  selected  by  the  people. 
This  act  of  the  Legislature  and  this  idea  of  Governor 
Russell  came  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  North 
Carolina  in  the  case  of  Harriss  vs.  Wright  from  Wil- 
mington, and  that  body  sustained  the  legislation  and 
recognized  alike  the  unfitness  of  the  negro  to  rule  and 
the  right  of  the  State  to  protect  itself  against  his 
incompetency.  Every  judge  on  that  bench  knew  that 
as  a  matter  of  fact  legislation  was  passed  to  discrimi- 
nate against  the  incapacity  of  the  negro  and  yet  the 
opinion  of  the  court  does  not  mention  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment  nor  declare  the  act  unconstitutional.  So  I 
may  be  permitted  to  observe  in  passing  that  the  courts 
know  many  things  as  facts  which  they  can  never  know 
judicially.     Further  confirmation  of  the  unfitness  of  the 


216  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

negro  to  govern  may  be  found  in  the  open  letter  which 
Senator  Butler  addressed  to  the  people  of  North 
Carolina  just  before  the  election  in  1898,  in  which  he 
pledged  the  Populist  candidates  for  the  Legislature  to 
introduce  bills  providing  a  special  form  of  county  gov- 
ernment for  certain  eastern  counties  where  necessary. 

In  what  eastern  counties  did  Senator  Butler  suppose 
a  special  form  of  county  government  was  necessary  and 
why  was  it  necessary?  Plainly  he  meant  in  those 
eastern  counties  where  the  negro  predominated  and 
because  of  the  unfitness  of  the  negro  to  rule.  More 
recent  and  convincing  evidence  can  be  offered.  Sen- 
ator Pritchard  in  his  speech  delivered  in  the  United 
States  Senate  on  January  22, 1900,  uses  this  language, 
"In  the  very  nature  of  things  it  (negro  domination) 
cannot  be.  From  the  earliest  dawn  of  civilization  to 
this  good  hour  the  great  white  race  has  given  to  the 
world  its  history,  its  philosophy,  its  laws,  its  govern- 
ment, and  its  Christianity,  and  it  will  continue  to  do 
so."  In  a  recent  speech  delivered  in  Goldsboro  by 
Major  H.  L.  Grant  before  the  Republican  convention 
of  Wayne  County  he  declared  that  "the  negro  could  no 
longer  hold  office  and  that  for  twenty  years  he  had 
fought  to  put  down  the  idea  of  negro  supremacy;  that 
while  the  negro  under  the  Constitution  has  a  right  to 
hold  office,  public  sentiment  was  stronger  than  law, 
and  public  sentiment  was  opposed  to  the  negro  holding 
office." 

Indeed  it  has  become  the  fashion  among  Republicans 
and  Populists  to  assert  the  unfitness  of  the  negro  to 
rule,  but  when  they  use  the  word  rule,  they  confine  it  to 
holding  office.     When  we  say  that  the  negro  is  unfit  to 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  217 

rule  we  carry  it  one  step  further  and  convey  the  correct 
idea  when  we  declare  that  he  is  unfit  to  vote. 

The  causes  which  have  brought  about  this  consensus 
of  opinion  have  in  large  measure  forced  themselves  on 
public  attention  within  the  last  few  years.  We  have 
had  but  two  periods  of  Republican  rule  in  North 
Carolina,  from  1868  to  1870,  and  from  1896  to  1898. 
That  party  contains  a  large  number  of  respectable 
white  men,  but  the  negro  constitutes  over  two  thirds  of 
its  voting  strength.  Government  can  never  be  better 
nor  wiser  than  the  average  of  the  virtue  and  intelli- 
gence of  the  party  that  governs.  The  Republicans 
insist  that  we  have  never  had  negro  rule  in  North 
Carolina;  that  the  Republican  party  elects  white  men 
to  office,  and  that  this  fact  gives  us  a  government  by 
white  men.  Governor  Russell  in  his  message  to  the 
last  Legislature  vindicates  himself  against  the  charge 
of  appointing  negroes  to  office  and  proudly  boasts  that 
out  of  818  appointments  made  by  him  not  more  than 
eight  were  negroes.  He  misses  the  point  which  we 
made  and  make  against  him  and  his  party;  it  is  not 
alone  that  Governor  Russell  put  the  eight  negroes  in 
office,  and  his  party  a  thousand  more,  but  that  the 
125,000  negroes  put  him  in  office  over  the  votes  of  white 
men.  It  is  the  party  behind  the  officeholder  that 
governs  and  not  the  officeholder  himself.  There  is  no 
man  in  the  State  to-day  more  certainly  conscious  than 
Governor  Russell  that  he  has  failed  of  his  purpose 
because  he  had  behind  him  the  negroes  of  the  State 
and  not  the  white  men.  We  had  a  white  man  for 
Governor  in  1870  when  counties  were  declared  in  a 
state  of  insurrection;  when  innocent  men  were  arrested 


218  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

without  warrant  by  military  cutthroats;  when  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  suspended  and  the  judiciary 
was  exhausted.  We  had  a  white  man  for  Governor  in 
1898  when  negroes  became  intolerably  insolent;  when 
ladies  were  insulted  on  the  public  streets;  when  burg- 
lary in  our  chief  city  became  an  every  night  occurrence; 
when  "  sleep  lay  down  armed  and  the  villainous  centre- 
bits  ground  on  the  wakeful  ear  in  the  hush  of  the 
moonless  nights";  when  more  guns  and  pistols  were 
sold  in  the  State  than  had  been  in  the  twenty  preced- 
ing years;  when  lawlessness  walked  the  State  like  a 
pestilence  and  the  Governor  and  our  two  Senators 
were  afraid  to  speak  in  a  city  of  25,000  inhabitants. 

It  is  the  negro  behind  the  officer  and  not  the  officer 
only  that  constitutes  negro  government. 

Major  Grant  now  repudiates  Congressman  White  and 
draws  the  color  line  against  negro  officeholding,  but  it 
has  not  been  two  years  since  a  Republican  convention 
composed  in  part  of  white  men  applauded  to  the  echo 
the  declaration  of  White  that  the  industry  of  negro 
officeholding  had  but  fairly  begun.  We  have  taught 
them  much  in  the  past  two  years  in  the  University  of 
White  Supremacy,  we  will  graduate  them  in  August 
next  with  a  diploma  that  will  entitle  them  to  form  a 
genuine  white  man's  party.  Then  we  shall  have  no 
more  revolutions  in  Wilmington;  we  shall  have  no  more 
dead  and  wounded  negroes  on  the  streets,  because 
we  shall  have  good  government  in  the  State  and  peace 
everywhere.  The  Governor  of  the  State  and  the 
Senators  will  not  be  afraid  to  speak  anywhere,  for  free- 
dom of  speech  will  become  the  common  possession  of 
the  humblest  of  us.     Life  and  property  and  liberty 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  219 

from  the  mountains  to  the  sea  shall  rest  secure  in  the 
guardianship  of  the  law. 

But  to  do  this  we  must  disfranchise  the  negro. 
This  movement  comes  from  the  people.  Politicians 
have  been  afraid  of  it  and  have  hesitated,  but  the  great 
mass  of  white  men  in  the  State  are  now  demanding  and 
have  demanded  that  the  matter  be  settled  once  and  for 
all.  To  do  so  is  both  desirable  and  necessary  —  desir- 
able because  it  sets  the  white  man  free  to  move  along 
faster  than  he  can  go  when  retarded  by  the  slower 
movement  of  the  negro;  necessary  because  we  must 
have  good  order  and  peace  while  we  work  out  the 
industrial,  commercial,  intellectual  and  moral  develop- 
ment of  the  State.  The  amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion is  presented  in  solution  of  the  problem.  It  is  plain 
and  simple.  It  proceeds  along  wise  lines.  It  is  care- 
fully and  thoughtfully  drawn.  It  stays  inside  of  the 
Fifteenth  Amendment  and,  nevertheless,  accomplishes 
its  purpose.  It  adopts  the  suggestion  of  Senator  Cul- 
lom  and  demands  the  "existence  of  sufficient  intelli- 
gence, either  by  'inheritance  or  education,'"  as  a 
necessary  qualification  for  voting.  It  requires  of  the 
negro  the  qualification  by  education  because  he  has  it 
not  by  inheritance  and  demands  of  the  white  man  only 
that  he  possess  it  by  inheritance.  It  does  not  sweep 
the  field  of  expedients  to  disfranchise  the  negro  which 
is  held  constitutional  in  the  Mississippi  case,  but  seizes 
upon  his  educational  unfitness  and  saves  the  whites 
from  participation  therein  by  boldly  recognizing  the 
claim  of  their  hereditary  fitness.  The  Amendment 
makes  a  distinction  between  a  white  man  and  a  negro, 
but  it  does  so  on  the  ground  that  the  white  man  has  a 


mo  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

knowledge  by  inheritance  which  the  negro  has  not. 
Has  the  white  man  such  superior  knowledge?  Will 
any  man  deny  it?  Will  Senator  Pritchard  deny  it? 
Hear  what  he  said  in  his  recent  speech  in  the  Senate. 
"It  is  absurd  to  contend  that  there  is  any  danger  of 
negro  domination  in  North  Carolina.  In  the  very 
nature  of  things  it  cannot  be.  From  the  earliest  dawn 
of  civilization  to  this  good  hour  the  great  white  race  has 
given  to  the  world  its  history,  its  philosophy,  its  laws,  its 
government,  and  its  Christianity,  and  it  will  continue 
to  do  so."  Why  unless  the  white  man  is  superior? 
Will  Senator  Butler  deny  it?  Ask  the  Caucasian, 
evidently  named  in  honor  of  the  great  race.  Will 
Governor  Russell  deny  it?  Surely  he  will  not  assert 
that  unlettered  white  men  are  no  better  than  "sav- 
ages." If  then  it  be  true  that  unlettered  white  men 
have  a  knowledge  of  government  superior  to  that 
possessed  by  unlettered  negroes  I  want  to  know  if 
Senators  Butler  and  Pritchard  and  Governor  Russell 
want  the  Supreme  Court  to  hold  that  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment  demands  a  lie.  The  Democratic  party 
knows  the  truth  —  it  is  certain  that  the  unlettered 
white  man  is  more  capable  of  government  than  the 
negro.  It  is  so  certain  of  it  that  it  has  put  its  opinion  in 
writing  —  has  printed  it  in  the  laws  of  1899  —  has 
submitted  it  to  the  people  and  it  now  challenges  any 
white  man  in  North  Carolina  to  deny  it.  Republicans 
are  professing  a  special  love  for  the  poor  and  unlettered 
white  man,  but  at  the  same  time  they  assert  that  the 
law  can  make  no  distinction  between  him  and  the  negro. 
The  Democratic  party  takes  the  true,  bold  ground  that 
a  white  man  is  superior  to  a  negro  and  that  the  law  of 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  221 

man  will  follow  the  law  of  God  in  recognition  of  it.  If 
we  are  wrong  about  this,  then  God  pity  us  for  that  sense 
of  superiority  which  beats  with  our  blood  and  boast- 
fully exclaims  with  St.  Paul  "I  am  freeborn. " 

But  the  opponents  of  the  Amendment  attack  it  on 
another  ground.  They  say  that  every  child  who  comes 
of  age  after  1908,  white  and  black,  must  be  able  to 
read  and  write  before  he  can  vote.  This  is  true.  The 
Amendment  does  so  provide.  We  recognize  and  pro- 
vide for  the  God-given  and  hereditary  superiority  of 
the  white  man  and  of  all  white  children  now  thirteen 
years  of  age,  but  for  the  future  as  to  all  under  thirteen 
we  call  on  them  to  assert  that  superiority  of  which  we 
boast  by  learning  to  read  and  write.  The  schools  are 
open  and  will  be  for  four  or  more  months  every  year 
from  now  to  1908.  The  white  child  under  thirteen  who 
will  not  learn  to  read  and  write  in  the  next  eight  years 
will  be  without  excuse. 

But  we  are  told  that  there  are  orphan  children  in  the 
land.  And  there  are.  But  the  State  and  the  Masonic 
fraternity  support  the  Orphanage  at  Oxford  and  they 
stand  with  open  arms  inviting  orphan  children  to  enter 
the  doors  of  that  noble  institution.  The  Odd  Fellows' 
Orphanage  at  Goldsboro  is  open  for  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  Odd  Fellows,  and  the  township  in  which  I  have 
the  happiness  to  live  in  its  public  graded  school  teaches 
without  money  and  without  price,  but  not,  thank  God, 
without  a  blessing,  the  orphans  assembled  there.  The 
Baptist  Orphanage  at  Thomasville  with  its  170  pupils 
follows  the  Master  and  preaches  the  Gospel  to  the  poor 
while  it  teaches  to  read  and  write.  Barium  Springs  and 
the  Thompson  Orphanage  and  the  Friends'  Orphanage 


THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

near  High  Point  attest  the  interest  of  Presbyterians 
and  Episcopalians  and  Friends  in  the  education  of  poor 
orphans,  while  the  Methodists  are  opening  in  this 
beautiful  city  a  home  and  school  for  those  to  whom 
they  owe  a  duty.  The  State  and  charity  and  philan- 
thropy and  Christianity  all  stand  ready  to  aid  our  boast 
of  superiority. 

The  man  who  seeks  in  the  face  of  these  provisions  to 
encourage  illiteracy  is  a  public  enemy  and  deserves  the 
contempt  of  all  mankind.  I  have  heard  Republican 
speakers  grow  eloquent  over  the  impossibility  of  the  poor 
white  children  learning  to  read  and  write  in  eight  years. 
The  man  who  makes  such  a  speech  has  no  such  opinion 
of  the  incapacity  of  his  own  children  as  to  suppose  that 
they  cannot  learn  to  read  and  write  in  eight  years.  I 
would  that  I  could  reach  the  heart  of  every  illiterate 
poor  man  in  North  Carolina  and  give  him  assurance 
that  his  children  are  as  bright  and  capable  as  those  of 
the  demagogue  who  seeks  to  encourage  him  not  to 
educate  his  children.  I  would  assure  him  that  these 
demagogues  have  their  own  children  in  school  while 
seeking  to  keep  those  of  the  poor  and  illiterate  out,  their 
purpose  being  to  gain  a  start  in  life  for  their  children 
ahead  of  those  whom  they  seek  to  mislead. 

Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  this  clause  of  our 
Amendment  does  not  weaken  but  strengthens  it.  In 
your  speeches  to  the  people,  in  your  talks  with  them  on 
the  streets  and  farms  and  by  the  fireside,  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  discuss  this  section.  I  tell  you  that  the  pros- 
perity and  the  glory  of  our  grand  old  State  are  to  be 
more  advanced  by  this  clause  than  by  any  other  one 
thing.     Speak  the  truth,  "tell  it  in  Gath,  publish  it  in 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  223 

the  streets  of  Askelon"  that  universal  education  of  the 
white  children  of  North  Carolina  will  send  us  forward 
with  a  bound  in  the  race  with  the  world.  Life  is  a 
mighty  combat  and  the  people  who  go  into  it  best 
equipped  will  be  sure  to  win.  Massachusetts  has  grown 
rich  while  we  have  remained  poor  and  complained  of  her 
riches.  She  educated  while  we  remained  ignorant.  If 
she  has  grown  rich  out  of  us  it  is  because  she  knew  how 
to  do  so  and  we  did  not  know  how  to  prevent  it.  With 
the  adoption  of  our  Amendment  after  1908  there  will 
be  no  State  in  the  Union  with  a  larger  percentage  of 
boys  and  girls  who  can  read  and  write,  and  no  State 
will  rush  forward  with  more  celerity  or  certainty 
than  conservative  old  North  Carolina.  The  day 
of  the  miserable  demagogue  who  seeks  to  perpetuate 
illiteracy  in  the  State  will  then  have  happily  passed 
forever. 

There  is  one  other  provision  of  the  Amendment  to 
which  I  must  advert  and  that  is  the  payment  of  the  poll 
tax  by  March  1st  of  election  years  as  a  condition  to 
voting.  The  largest  part  of  the  poll  tax  goes  to  public 
education  under  the  Constitution.  If  our  boys  are  to 
be  educated  as  a  condition  precedent  to  voting  after 
1908,  then  no  man  who  will  not  contribute  to  that  end 
ought  to  vote.  Nearly  all  white  persons  liable  to  poll 
tax  pay  it  now.  If  the  negro  wants  to  vote  it  is  no 
hardship  on  him  that  he  should  be  required  to  pay  his 
tax  to  the  support  of  these  schools  in  which  his  race  gets 
more  than  it  pays  of  the  public  fund.  The  various 
provisions  of  the  Amendment  work  together  for  good 
to  all  men.  We  are  going  to  carry  them  through  to 
success.     The  fight  is  on.     We  unfurl  anew  the  old 


224  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

banner  of  Democracy.  We  inscribe  thereon  "White 
Supremacy  and  Its  Perpetuation. " 

Under  that  banner  we  shall  win  and  when  we  shall 
have  won  we  will  have  peace  in  the  land.  There  will 
be  rest  from  political  bitterness  and  race  antagonism. 
Industry  will  have  a  great  outburst.  Freed  from  the 
necessity  of  voting  according  to  our  color  we  shall  have 
intellectual  freedom.  Error  will  come  face  to  face  with 
truth  and  shall  suffer  that  final  crushing  which  the  poet 
denies  to  truth.  With  freedom  of  thought  will  come 
independence  of  action  and  public  questions  will  stand 
or  fall  in  the  court  of  reason  and  not  of  passion.  To 
these  great  ends  I  beg  your  unceasing  activity  during 
the  present  campaign.  Let  your  work  be  with  zeal  and 
earnestness.  Remember  that  the  peace  of  the  State 
is  at  stake.  Do  not  forget  that  the  safety  of  our  women 
is  dependent  upon  it.  Ladies  refugeed  from  Wilming- 
ton in  1898  as  they  olid  before  the  advance  of  Sherman 
in  1865.  The  county  in  which  we  are  assembled  is 
named  in  honor  of  a  woman,  Esther  Wake.  The  city 
in  which  we  are  is  named  for  that  gallant  gentleman 
whose  most  famous  act  among  his  many  great  and 
illustrious  deeds  is  that  he  spread  his  cloak  upon  the 
ground  in  order  that  his  queen  might  walk  dry  shod. 
In  North  Carolina  in  every  home  there  is  a  queen  — 
wife,  sister,  mother  or  daughter  —  and  in  her  name  I 
demand  your  allegiance  and  service. 

It  is  by  no  accident  that  the  first  child  born  of  English 
parentage  in  America  was  born  on  North  Carolina  soil 
and  was  a  girl.  The  event  was  both  a  prophecy  and  an 
inspiration  —  a  prophecy  in  foretelling  that  modesty 
which,  characterizing  North  Carolinians,  has  found  its 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  225 

chief  pleasure  in  doing  things  rather  than  in  proclaim- 
ing them  when  done;  an  inspiration  to  all  North  Caro- 
lina white  men  to  forever  regard  the  protection  of  the 
womanhood  of  the  State  as  the  first  duty  which  God 
in  the  birth  of  Virginia  Dare  laid  upon  us  for  all  time. 

In  the  performance  of  this  delightful  duty  the  North 
Carolina  Democracy  claims  no  monopoly,  but  is  willing 
and  anxious  to  share  with  our  Republican  and  Populist 
friends  the  glory  of  achieving  it  by  establishing  per- 
manent white  supremacy.  There  is  work  for  us  all  and, 
in  the  language  of  Admiral  Schley,  glory  enough  to  go 
around.  If  the  Democratic  party  has  seen  with  quicker, 
clearer  vision  the  necessity  for  this  Amendment  than 
either  of  the  other  parties,  the  fact  has  grown  out  of 
environment  and  gives  us  no  right  to  boast  over  those  of 
our  race  belonging  to  other  parties  who  seeing  it  now 
shall  join  with  us  in  perfecting  the  good  work.  Let  the 
adoption  of  the  Amendment  furnish  us  the  occasion  for 
a  better  understanding  one  with  another,  and  while 
restoring  to  white  men  the  rightful  superiority  which 
God  gave  them,  let  us  in  the  assurance  of  better  govern- 
ment learn,  not  toleration  only,  but  respect  as  well  for 
the  views  of  those  opposing  us.  In  coming  together  for 
the  common  good  we  shall  forget  the  asperities  of  past 
years  and  shall  go  forward  into  the  twentieth  century  a 
united  people,  striving  with  zeal  and  in  generous  rivalry 
for  the  material,  intellectual  and  moral  upbuilding  of 
the  State. 

May  the  era  of  good  feeling  among  us  be  the  outcome 
of  this  contest.  Then  we  shall  learn,  if  we  do  not 
already  know,  that  while  universal  suffrage  is  a  failure 
universal  justice  is  the  perpetual  decree  of  Almighty 


226  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

God,  and  that  we  are  entrusted  with  power  not  for  our 
good  alone,  but  for  the  negro  as  well.  We  hold  our 
title  to  power  by  the  tenure  of  service  to  God,  and  if  we 
fail  to  administer  equal  and  exact  justice  to  the  negro 
whom  we  deprive  of  suffrage  we  shall  in  the  fulness  of 
time  lose  power  ourselves,  for  we  must  know  that  the 
God  who  is  Love  trusts  no  people  with  authority  for  the 
purpose  of  enabling  them  to  do  injustice  to  the  weak. 
We  do  well  to  rejoice  in  our  strength  and  to  take  delight 
in  our  power,  but  we  will  do  better  still  when  we  come 
fully  to  know  that  our  right  to  rule  has  been  transmitted 
to  us  by  our  fathers  through  centuries  of  toil  and  sacri- 
fice, suffering  and  death,  and  their  work  through  all 
these  centuries  has  been  a  striving  to  execute  judgment 
in  righteousness.  That  must  likewise  be  our  aim;  that 
our  labor. 

Can  you  wonder  then,  my  friends,  that  I  feel  weighed 
down  by  the  honor  which  you  have  done  me?  The 
task  is  great  and  I  am  weak.  To  be  the  first  Governor 
of  North  Carolina  under  the  new  order  in  the  State 
may  bring  honor,  but  it  may  bring  the  disgrace  of  failing 
rightly  to  interpret  and  adequately  to  express  the  high 
ideals  and  the  noble  purposes  which  I  am  certain  thrill 
the  hearts  of  North  Carolinians  as  the  sun  of  the 
twentieth  century  begins  to  brighten  the  eastern  skies. 
The  morning  of  the  new  century  calls.  There  is  work 
to  be  done  —  the  old,  old  combat  between  freedom  and 
force  is  even  now  upon  us,  and  the  mighty  roar  of  traffic 
and  industry  cannot  drown  the  tremendous  din  of  that 
conflict.  Our  industries  are  to  be  multiplied,  our  com- 
merce increased.  We  are  to  have  an  educational 
awakening  that  shall  reach  every  son  and  daughter  of 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  227 

North  Carolina.  We  may  not  grow  in  numbers  as 
rapidly  as  some  other  States,  but  we  shall  multiply 
many  times  the  effective  power  of  the  State  in  the  next 
ten  years  by  the  strength  which  comes  from  the  wide 
diffusion  of  knowledge. 

It  is  my  happiness  to  have  been  nominated  by  you  for 
the  Governorship  of  that  State  in  which  these  things  are 
to  be  done.  I  shall  come  to  that  great  office,  if  elected, 
with  an  honest  desire  to  serve  faithfully  and  well.  I 
shall  have  no  enemies  to  punish  and  no  private  ends  to 
gain.  I  shall  be  the  servant  of  the  whole  people  of  the 
State.  Are  you  rich  and  powerful?  Then  I  shall  meet 
you  as  your  equal,  for  surely  he  who  has  garnered  this 
harvest  of  hearts  has  a  goodly  heritage  and  possesses 
a  power  which  only  folly  can  dissipate.  Are  you  poor? 
Still  I  am  your  equal,  possessing  no  other  riches  than 
the  love  of  my  friends.  I  shall  respect  the  rights  of 
property  and  rejoice  in  prosperity,  but  I  shall  not  for- 
get that  they  who  toil  constitute  not  only  the  largest 
class  of  our  people,  but  from  their  labors  can  spare  little 
time  to  urge  their  views  upon  those  whom  they  have 
chosen  to  serve  them. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   IDEALS   OF   A   NEW   ERA 
(Inaugural  Address  as  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  January  15, 1901.) 

Gentlemen  of  the  General  Assembly,  Ladies,  and  Fellow 
Citizens: 

EVERY  four  years  brings  us  a  change  of  admin- 
istration, but  not  always  a  change  of  policy. 
This  year  we  meet  under  extraordinary  circum- 
stances —  one  party  goes  out  of  power  and  another 
comes  in;  one  policy  ends  and  a  new  one  begins;  one 
century  passes  away  and  a  new  century  claims  our 
service;  a  new  constitution  greets  the  new  century. 
For  thirty  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  we  struggled 
in  every  way  against  the  evils  of  a  suffrage  based  on 
manhood  only.  We  found  in  the  first  days  of  that 
struggle  that  theory  had  outrun  practice  and  reality 
had  yielded  place  to  sentiment.  At  that  time  we  had 
just  emerged  from  an  unsuccessful  and  disastrous  war. 
Our  property  had  been  swept  away,  our  institutions  had 
been  destroyed,  the  foundation  of  our  social  fabric  had 
been  overturned  —  we  were  helpless.  A  victorious, 
but  ungenerous,  political  enemy  had  crushed  us  to  the 
earth;  they  had  forced  upon  us  the  recognition  of 
theories  that  we  knew  could  not  be  reduced  to  success- 
ful practice.  We  were  poor,  weak  and  defeated.  We 
"accepted  the  situation."  We  did  our  best  to  prove 
the  falsity  of  our  convictions.     We  endeavored  with 

228 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  229 

sincerity  to  bring  the  negroes  to  a  realization  of  the 
true  dignity  of  full  citizenship.  We  urgently  strove  to 
instil  into  their  minds  that  their  true  interests  were 
likewise  ours ;  we  sought  with  great  solicitude  and  with 
much  sacrifice  of  toil  and  capital  to  convince  them  that 
parties  were  the  servants  and  not  the  masters  of  the 
people,  and  that  no  past  services  of  a  party,  however 
beneficial  these  services  might  appear,  justified  the 
destruction  of  good  and  safe  and  economical  govern- 
ment in  order  to  secure  its  success.  We  provided  schools 
for  them  and  spent  for  them  as  we  spent  for  our  own 
children.  We  cared  for  their  insane  and  opened  schools 
for  the  education  of  their  afflicted,  and  for  the  care  and 
tuition  of  those  who  were  left  fatherless  and  motherless. 
We  continued  these  efforts  in  the  face  of  repeated  evi- 
dence of  their  hostility  and  abated  not  our  purposes 
when  they  repeated  their  follies.  We  still  hoped  that 
they  would  follow  the  example  of  the  whites  and  divide 
their  vote  along  the  lines  of  governmental,  industrial 
and  moral  issues.  The  result  was  a  disappointment. 
The  negro  was  always  to  be  counted  upon  and  our  op- 
ponents did  not  hesitate  at  any  excess,  because  they 
knew  that  they  had  120,000  voters  who  could  be  relied 
upon  to  support  any  policy,  however  ruinous,  which 
bore  the  stamp  of  Republicanism.  With  this  vote  as  a 
certainty  our  adversaries  when  they  came  to  power 
after  twenty  years  of  defeat  dared  new  evils  and  wrongs. 
Under  their  rule,  lawlessness  stalked  the  State  like  a 
pestilence  —  death  stalked  abroad  at  noonday  — 
"sleep  lay  down  armed"  —  the  sound  of  the  pistol  was 
more  frequent  than  the  song  of  the  mocking-bird  —  the 
screams  of  women  fleeing  from  pursuing  brutes  closed 


THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

the  gates  of  our  hearts  with  a  shock.  Our  opponents 
unmindful  of  the  sturdy  determination  of  our  people  to 
have  safe  and  good  government  at  all  hazards  became 
indifferent  to  or  incapable  of  enforcing  law  and  pre- 
serving order.  Confident  of  the  support  of  the  ignorant 
mass  of  negro  voters,  the  Republican  party  and  its  ally 
forgot  the  strength  and  determination  of  that  people 
who  fought  the  first  fight  at  Alamance  against  bad 
government  and  wrote  the  first  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence in  Mecklenburg.  They  challenged  North 
Carolinians  to  combat  and  the  world  knows  the  result. 
The  campaign  of  1898  ended  in  a  victory  for  good 
government.  That  was  not  a  contest  of  passion,  but  of 
necessity.  When  we  came  to  power  we  desired  merely 
the  security  of  life,  liberty  and  property.  We  had  seen 
all  these  menaced  by  120,000  negro  votes  cast  as  the 
vote  of  one  man.  We  had  seen  our  chief  city  pass 
through  blood  and  death  in  search  of  safety.  We  did 
not  dislike  the  negro,  but  we  did  love  good  government. 
We  knew  that  he  was  incapable  of  giving  us  that,  and 
we  resolved,  not  in  anger,  but  for  the  safety  of  the 
State,  to  curtail  his  power.  We  had  seen  what  a  strug- 
gle it  required  to  preserve  even  the  form  of  Republican 
government  with  him  as  a  voter.  The  negro  was 
not  only  ignorant  —  he  was  clannish.  The  educated 
among  them  who  realized  the  danger  to  the  State  in 
mass  voting  were  unable  to  free  themselves  from  the 
power  of  its  ostracism. 

THE   AMENDMENT 

When  the  Legislature  of  1899  met,  it  was  confronted 
with  those  facts  and  was  sincerely  anxious  to  save  the 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  231 

good  and  suppress  the  evil  of  those  forces  which  had 
made  our  history.  They,  therefore,  submitted  to  the 
people  for  their  action  an  Amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion, which  forbids  any  man  to  vote  who  cannot  read 
and  write,  but  excepts  from  the  operation  of  this  restric- 
tive clause  all  those  who  could  vote  in  any  State  on 
January  1, 1867,  or  at  any  time  prior  thereto,  or  who  are 
descended  from  any  such  voter.  This  provision  ex- 
cludes no  white  men  except  persons  of  foreign  birth  not 
yet  familiar  with  our  institutions,  and  excludes  no  negro 
who  can  read  and  write,  and  no  negro  whether  he  can 
read  or  write  or  not  who  could  vote  prior  to  January  1, 
1867,  or  who  is  descended  from  one  who  could  vote  at 
any  time  prior  to  that  date.  This  Amendment  to  our 
Constitution  eliminates  no  capable  negro.  Indeed  it 
sets  free  those  negroes  who,  believing  in  certain  princi- 
ples of  government,  have  been  restrained  by  loyalty  to 
the  mass  from  voting  their  convictions.  It  does  no 
injustice  to  the  negro.  It  really  benefits  him.  It  does 
recognize  the  necessity  of  having  some  test  of  capacity, 
and  it  prescribes  two  rules  of  evidence  by  which  the 
capacity  may  be  ascertained  and  declares  that  any 
man  capable  of  meeting  either  test  shall  vote.  If  a 
white  man  can  read  and  write  he  can  vote;  if  a  negro 
can  read  and  write  he  can  vote.  If  a  white  man  cannot 
read  or  write,  but  is  descended  from  one  who  could  vote 
on  January  1, 1867,  or  at  any  time  prior  thereto,  or  if  he 
could  vote  himself  before  that  time,  he  can  vote.  If  a 
negro  cannot  read  and  write,  but  is  descended  from  a 
person  who  could  vote  on  January  1,  1867,  or  at  any 
time  prior  thereto,  or  if  himself  could  vote  before  that 
time,  he  can  vote.     There  is,  therefore,  in  our  Amend- 


THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

ment  no  taint  of  that  inequality  provided  against  in  the 
Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States;  and  in  order  that  the  question  might  not  even  be 
suggested,  and  realizing  the  importance  of  educating 
the  white  and  black  alike,  our  Amendment  requires 
every  boy  of  whatever  color  now  thirteen  years  of 
age  to  learn  to  read  and  write  under  penalty  of  losing 
his  vote.  Interpreted  in  this  fashion  we  may  with 
complacency  accept  the  declaration  of  the  Republican 
national  platform  that  our  Amendment  is  revolution- 
ary. So  was  the  war  for  independence  distinctly  known 
as  the  Revolution,  and  our  liberties  are  founded  upon  it. 
Our  Amendment  may  be  revolutionary,  but  it  is  a 
revolution  of  advancement.  It  takes  no  step  back- 
ward, it  distinctly  looks  to  the  future;  it  sees  the  day  of 
universal  suffrage,  but  sees  that  day  not  in  the  obscu- 
rity of  ignorance,  but  in  the  light  of  universal  educa- 
tion. The  twilight  will  grow  into  the  perfect  day  with 
the  sun  of  intelligence  shining  in  the  sky.  That  is 
our  hope  and  promise.     We  shall  not  fail. 

On  a  hundred  platforms,  to  half  the  voters  of  the 
State,  in  the  late  campaign,  I  pledged  the  State,  its 
strength,  its  heart,  its  wealth,  to  universal  education. 
I  promised  the  illiterate  poor  man  bound  to  a  life  of  toil 
and  struggle  and  poverty  that  life  should  be  brighter  for 
him  and  the  partner  of  his  sorrows  and  joys.  I  pledged 
the  wealth  of  the  State  to  the  education  of  his  children. 
Men  of  wealth,  representatives  of  great  corporations 
applauded  eagerly  my  declaration.  I  then  realized  that 
the  strong  desire  which  dominated  me  for  the  uplifting 
of  the  whole  people  moved  not  only  my  heart,  but  was 
likewise  the  hope  and  aspiration  of  those  upon  whom 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  233 

fortune  had  smiled.  I  had  loved  the  North  Carolina 
people  before  that  time,  but  I  never  knew  and  appre- 
ciated the  best  qualities  of  many  of  our  citizens  until  I 
saw  the  owners  of  many  thousands  as  eager  for  the 
education  of  the  whole  people  as  I  was  myself.  Then  I 
knew  that  the  hope  and  task  before  us,  gentlemen  of 
the  Legislature,  was  not  an  impossible  one.  We  are 
prospering  as  never  before—  our  wealth  increases,  our 
industries  multiply,  our  commerce  extends,  and  among 
the  owners  of  this  wealth,  this  multiplying  industry, 
this  extending  commerce,  I  have  found  no  man  who  is 
unwilling  to  make  the  State  stronger  and  better  by 
liberal  aid  to  the  cause  of  education. 

EDUCATE    ALL    THE    PEOPLE 

Gentlemen  of  the  General  Assembly,  you  will  not 
have  aught  to  fear  when  you  make  ample  provision  for 
the  education  of  the  whole  people.  Rich  and  poor  alike 
are  bound  by  promise  and  necessity  to  approve  your 
utmost  efforts  in  this  direction.  The  platforms  of  all 
the  parties  declare  in  favor  of  a  liberal  policy  toward 
the  education  of  the  masses;  notably  the  Democratic 
platform  says,  "We  heartily  commend  the  action  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  1899  for  appropriating  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  for  the  benefit  of  the  public 
schools  of  the  State,  and  pledge  ourselves  to  increase 
the  school  fund  so  as  to  make  at  least  a  four-months' 
term  in  each  year  in  every  school  district  in  the  State, " 
and  in  the  campaign  which  was  conducted  throughout 
the  State  with  so  much  energy  and  earnestness  that 
platform  pledge  was  made  the  basis  of  the  promises 
which  we  all  made  to  the  people.     Poor  and  unlettered 


2S4  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

men,  anxious  about  the  privileges  of  their  children  and 
hesitating  to  vote  for  the  Amendment,  were  finally  per- 
suaded to  accept  our  promise  and  place  their  children 
in  a  position  in  which  they  can  never  vote  unless  the 
pledges  which  we  made  are  redeemed  to  the  fullest 
extent.  For  my  part  I  declare  to  you  that  it  shall  be 
my  constant  aim  and  effort  during  the  four  years  that  I 
shall  endeavor  to  serve  the  people  of  this  State  to  re- 
deem this  most  solemn  of  all  our  pledges.  If  more 
taxes  are  required  to  carry  out  this  promise  to  the 
people,  more  taxes  must  be  levied.  If  property  has 
escaped  taxation  heretofore  which  ought  to  have  been 
taxed,  means  must  be  devised  by  which  that  property 
can  be  reached  and  put  upon  the  tax  list.  I  rejoice  in 
prosperity  and  take  delight  in  the  material  progress  of 
the  State.  I  would  cripple  no  industry;  I  would  retard 
the  growth  of  no  enterprise;  but  I  would  by  just  and 
equal  laws  require  from  every  owner  of  property  his  just 
contribution,  to  the  end  that  all  the  children  may  secure 
the  right  to  select  their  servants.  There  are  many 
important  matters  which  will  claim  your  attention. 
The  problems  before  us  are  of  the  gravest  nature,  but 
among  them  all  there  is  none  that  can  approach  in 
importance  the  necessity  for  making  ample  provision 
for  the  education  of  the  whole  people. 

Appropriations  alone  cannot  remove  illiteracy  from 
our  State.  With  the  appropriations  must  come  also  an 
increased  interest  in  this  cause  which  shall  not  cease 
until  every  child  can  read  and  write.  The  preachers, 
the  teachers,  the  newspapers  and  the  mothers  of  North 
Carolina  must  be  unceasing  in  their  efforts  to  arouse 
the  indifferent  and  compel  by  the  force  of  public  opinion 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  235 

the  attendance  of  every  child  upon  the  schools.  It  is 
easier  to  accomplish  this  since  the  Amendment  to  our 
Constitution  raises  its  solemn  voice  and  declares  that 
the  child  who  arrives  at  age  after  1908  cannot  share  in 
the  glorious  privilege  of  governing  his  State  nor  partici- 
pating in  the  policies  of  the  nation  unless  he  can  read 
and  write.  This  is,  therefore,  the  opportune  moment 
for  a  revival  of  educational  interest  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  State.  We  shall  not  accom- 
plish this  work  in  a  day,  nor  can  it  be  done  by  many 
speeches.  It  is  a  work  of  years,  to  be  done  day  by  day 
with  a  full  realization  of  its  importance,  and  with  that 
anxious  interest  on  our  part  which  will  stimulate  the 
careless  and  will  make  all  our  people  eager  to  attain 
the  end  which  we  seek.  Our  statesmen  have  always 
favored  the  education  of  the  masses,  but  heretofore 
interest  in  the  matter  has  not  approached  universality ; 
henceforth  in  every  home  there  will  be  the  knowledge 
that  no  child  can  attain  the  true  dignity  of  citizenship 
without  learning  at  least  to  read  and  write.  This 
simple  fact  alone  justifies  the  adoption  of  the  Amend- 
ment, for  it  was  its  passage  that  first  brought  home  to 
all  our  people  the  necessity  for  universal  education. 
We  enter  an  era  of  industrial  development.  Growth 
in  that  direction  is  dependent  upon  intelligence  —  not 
the  intelligence  of  the  few,  but  of  all.  Massachusetts 
realized  this  fact  from  the  day  when  the  Pilgrim  fathers 
landed  on  Plymouth  Rock,  and  by  that  clear  perception 
she  has  won  wealth  out  of  bleak  coasts  and  sterile  lands. 
Our  forefathers  acknowledged  the  same  fact  in  their 
first  constitution,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present 
our  Constitutions  and  Legislative  acts  have  all  looked 


236  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

toward  this  end;  but  the  whole  people  have  never 
before  been  awakened  to  its  advocacy.  From  this 
time  forth  opposition  to  education  will  mark  a  man 
as  opposed  to  the  theory  of  our  Government  which  is 
founded  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  our 
Constitution  provides  that  this  consent  in  the  not 
distant  future  can  be  given  only  by  those  who  can 
read  and  write. 

We  need  have  nothing  to  fear,  then,  from  any  party 
or  any  politician  when  we  make  liberal  provision  for 
education.  But  if  there  were  opposition,  our  duty 
would  be  none  the  less  clear.  It  is  demonstrable  that 
wealth  increases  as  the  education  of  the  people  grows. 
Our  industries  will  be  benefited;  our  commerce  will  ex- 
pand; our  railroads  will  do  a  larger  business  when  we 
shall  have  educated  all  the  children  of  the  State.  It  is, 
therefore,  of  the  utmost  importance  from  a  material 
point  of  view  that  our  whole  people  should  be  educated. 
Care  must  be  taken  on  your  part,  gentlemen  of  the 
Legislature,  to  bring  the  schools  in  the  remotest  dis- 
tricts up  to  the  standard  of  the  Constitution  which 
solemnly  admonishes  you,  as  it  did  me  but  a  moment 
ago  when  I  took  the  oath  to  support  it,  that  at  least 
four  months  of  school  must  be  carried  on  in  every 
school  district  in  each  year.  Our  party  platform 
follows  the  Constitution  and  we  cannot  afford  to 
violate  either.  If  there  are  districts  which  are  weak 
they  must  be  strengthened  by  those  who  are  strong. 
The  Good  Book  tells  us  that  the  strong  should  bear 
the  infirmities  of  the  weak  and  the  lessons  of  that 
great  authority  are  of  utility  in  our  political  life.  There 
has  grown  up  an  idea  among  strenuous  men  that  only 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  237 

the  strong  are  to  be  considered  and  benefited;  that 
the  poor  and  weak  are  the  burden-bearers  who  deserve 
no  aid  and  are  weak  because  of  their  follies.  A  great 
State  can  never  act  on  this  theory,  but  will  always 
recognize  that  the  strong  can  care  for  themselves  while 
the  true  aim  of  the  State  is  to  provide  equal  and  just 
laws,  giving  to  the  weak  opportunity  to  grow  strong  and 
restraining  the  powerful  from  oppressing  the  less  fortu- 
nate. It  will  be  a  glorious  day  for  us  if  our  people  in 
the  hour  of  their  prosperity  and  wonderful  growth  and 
development  can  realize  that  men  can  never  grow 
higher  and  better  by  rising  on  the  weakness  and  igno- 
rance of  their  fellows,  but  only  by  aiding  their  fellow- 
men  and  lifting  them  to  the  same  high  plane  which  they 
themselves  occupy.  It  may  require  sacrifice  to  accom- 
plish the  promises  which  we  have  made  and  men  may  be 
compelled  to  bear  additional  burdens,  but  I  am  per- 
suaded that  the  sacrifice  will  be  made  and  the  burdens 
borne  with  that  cheerfulness  which  has  ever  character- 
ized us  when  we  were  doing  a  righteous  thing.  Our 
fathers  have  done  well  their  work.  They  have  sought 
this  day  through  many  difficulties;  illiterate  or  learned, 
they  have  ever  striven  to  do  their  duty  by  the  State,  and 
they  have  laid  her  foundations  so  strong  and  deep  that 
we  have  but  to  build  thereon  the  splendid  home  which 
they  saw  only  in  anticipation.  Let  that  home  be  bright 
with  the  shining  of  ten  thousand  lights  emanating  from 
as  many  schools.  Some  of  these  lights  will  shine 
but  feebly,  mayhap  with  but  four-candlepower,  while 
others  shall  shine  with  sixty-four  and  some  few  with  the 
radiance  of  a  thousand,  but  let  them  all  shine  together 
to  brighten  life  and  make  the  State  more  glorious,  and 


238  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

may  they  all  have  as  their  source  that  God  who  first  said 
"Let  there  be  light. " 

I  pledge  you,  gentlemen  of  the  Legislature,  such 
power  as  the  Constitution  vests  in  the  Governor  and 
all  the  energy  of  my  soul  and  heart  to  the  education  of 
the  people,  and  rely  with  entire  confidence  upon  you 
and  the  promises  which  each  of  you  have  made. 
With  these  promises  kept  there  will  break  upon  us  a 
day  such  as  has  never  before  dawned  upon  our 
State.  Our  Government  is  founded  upon  intelligence 
and  virtue.  We  shall  provide  for  intelligence  by  a 
system  of  schools  which  is  designed  to  reach  every 
citizen.  The  schools  look  to  the  preparation  of  the 
voter  for  the  use  of  the  ballot.  We  admit  to  the  elec- 
tive franchise  every  man  capable  of  intelligently  exer- 
cising that  right  and  so  anxious  are  we  to  approach  as 
near  as  may  be  universal  suffrage  that  we  have  made 
the  test  of  intelligence  simply  ability  to  read  and  write, 
an  accomplishment  which  can  be  acquired  in  a  few 
months. 

VOTES  MUST   BE   COUNTED 

Having  thus  provided  for  the  right  to  vote,  the 
further  duty  devolves  upon  you,  gentlemen  of  the 
Legislature,  to  pass  a  law  by  which  that  right  may  be 
made  effective,  a  law  by  which  every  voter  qualified 
under  our  Constitution  shall  have  the  power  to  cast  one 
vote  and  have  that  vote  counted  as  cast.  The  safety 
of  the  State  and  the  liberty  of  the  citizens  depend  upon 
your  action  on  this  question.  The  adoption  of  the 
Amendment  not  only  furnishes  the  occasion,  but  ren- 
ders indispensable  the  adoption  of  an  election  law  which 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  239 

shall  be  so  fair  that  no  just  man  can  oppose  it,  and 
requires  an  administration  of  that  law  in  such  spirit  that 
no  man  will  doubt  that  the  popular  will  has  been  rightly 
expressed  and  recorded.  From  the  foundation  of  our 
State  to  the  day  when  the  negro  was  given  the  elective 
franchise  the  fairness  of  our  elections  was  never  ques- 
tioned. When  the  ballot  was  given  to  the  negro  the 
first  election  thereafter  was  known  to  be  a  farce  and  a 
fraud.  That  election  was  held  under  military  dictator- 
ship, lasted  three  days,  and  the  vote  was  counted  in 
Charleston,  South  Carolina.  We  have  denounced,  and 
ever  will  denounce,  that  election  as  fraudulent.  When 
we  came  to  power  in  1876  we  changed  the  election  law 
of  the  State,  and  from  that  time  down  to  1894  all 
elections  were  held  under  laws  passed  by  us.  Our 
adversaries  charged  that  these  elections  were  carried  by 
force  and  fraud.  WTien  they  came  to  power  in  1895 
they  adopted  a  law  which  we  denounced  as  providing 
means  for  the  registration  and  voting  of  minors,  dead, 
imported  and  convicted  negroes.  They  carried  the 
State  under  that  law  in  1896.  We  beat  them  in  1898 
despite  their  law,  and  then  we  passed  a  new  election 
law,  which  they  denounced  as  designed  to  thwart  the 
will  of  the  people.  We  held  the  election  of  1900  under 
that  law.  By  the  result  of  that  election  we  have  elim- 
inated the  ignorant  negro  from  those  entitled  to  vote. 
If  what  has  been  charged  by  the  opposing  parties  be 
true  and  elections  have  been  fraudulent  and  election 
laws  unfair  ever  since  the  negro  came  to  be  a  power  in 
the  State,  it  certainly  ought  to  follow  that  with  the  dis- 
qualification of  the  ignorant  negro  the  State  should 
return  to  her  ancient  ways  when  no  man  questioned  her 


240  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

integrity.  Henceforth  our  laws  and  their  administra- 
tion must  be  so  fair  that  the  civilized  world  shall  recog- 
nize the  high  purpose  with  which  we  have  wrought  to 
see  this  day.  Let  history  record  of  us  that  we  have 
fought  our  great  fight  and  won  our  notable  victory  with 
no  view  to  perpetuate  ourselves  in  power,  but  honestly 
to  secure  good  government  founded  on  intelligence 
worked  out  through  a  perfectly  fair  election  law  admin- 
istered as  a  sacred  trust  to  be  held  forever  inviolable. 
Good  men  go  to  war  only  for  the  sake  of  peace,  and  the 
patriotic  citizens  of  our  State  have  won  this  victory 
only  for  the  sake  of  good  government  and  not  for  party 
aggrandizement. 

WHERE   SAFETY    LIES 

On  every  platform  in  the  late  campaign  I  declared 
our  purpose  to  be  to  secure  good  government,  safety 
and  peace,  to  educate  all  the  children,  and  to  bring 
about  that  day  when  even  extremest  partisanship 
should  not  be  able  to  cry  out  against  our  laws  and  our 
methods.  Thousands  of  Republicans  and  Populists 
joined  with  us  in  securing  our  more  than  sixty  thousand 
majority.  I  shall,  therefore,  confidently  expect  you, 
gentlemen  of  the  Legislature,  without  regard  to  party, 
to  frame  an  election  law  fair  in  every  purpose,  clear  in 
every  detail,  and  to  provide  machinery  by  which  every 
man  qualified  under  our  Constitution  shall  be  able  to 
vote  and  shall  know  that  his  vote  is  effective.  We  can 
have  safety,  security  and  integrity  on  no  other  basis.  I 
now  pledge  you  the  whole  power  of  my  administration 
to  secure  this  end.  I  declared  in  my  speech  of  accept- 
ance that  I  should  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  my 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  241 

duties  if  elected  with  great  fear  lest  I  should 
fail  to  interpret  adequately  the  true  spirit  under- 
lying our  change  in  the  Constitution;  but  I  have 
never  for  one  moment  questioned  that  the  ultimate 
aim  of  our  people  was  to  secure  a  constitution  under 
which  security  for  life,  liberty  and  property  could 
be  found  under  the  forms  of  law  and  not  in  violation 
of  them. 

IT   MUST    ENDURE 

Our  opponents  have  denounced  the  movement  which 
we  inaugurated  to  amend  the  Constitution,  and  which 
will  be  carried  out  in  the  spirit  just  suggested,  as 
revolutionary.  They  sought  to  prevent  its  success  by 
threats  before  the  election,  and  in  the  first  moments  of 
passionate  disappointment  after  the  election  they  be- 
gan prosecutions  against  certain  officers  of  the  State 
for  alleged  wrongdoing  in  connection  with  the  August 
election.  This  movement  of  ours  was  carried  out  with 
such  deliberate  high  purpose  and  such  noble  earnestness 
that  thousands  of  our  political  opponents  joined  hands 
with  us  in  effort  to  forever  settle  a  question  which  had 
distressed  us  for  thirty  years.  It  was  the  uprising  of 
almost  an  entire  people.  There  was  about  it,  indeed, 
in  its  spontaneousness,  in  its  enthusiasm,  in  its  deter- 
mination and  sturdiness  of  purpose  and  its  high  aims, 
something  of  the  revolutionary  spirit  of  1776.  That 
spirit  still  lives  in  the  hearts  of  North  Carolinians.  It 
is  a  part,  and  a  glorious  part,  of  their  heritage  —  it  can- 
not be  destroyed  by  persecution.  A  whole  people  can- 
not be  persecuted,  nor  will  they  without  the  utmost 
exertion  see  any  of  their  agents  made  to  suffer  for  the 


242  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

defeat  of  those  who  sought  in  vain  to  stem  the  mighty 
tide  of  popular  opinion. 

LAW  MUST   HAVE   SWAY 

We  have  a  great  State,  rich  in  noble  manhood,  richer 
still  in  her  high-minded  womanhood;  a  State  with 
countless  treasures  awaiting  seekers;  with  riches  in  her 
fields  and  woods,  streams  and  sounds,  hills  and  moun- 
tains, sufficient  to  satisfy  our  dreams  of  wealth;  with  a 
frugal  and  industrious  population  ready  to  toil  just 
awakening  fully  to  the  possibilities  before  them.  All 
that  we  need  "to  complete  the  circle  of  our  felicities"  is 
peace.  Let  hatred  and  bitterness  and  strife  cease  from 
among  us.  Let  the  law  everywhere  reign  supreme.  The 
highest  test  of  a  great  people  is  obedience  to  law  and  a 
consequent  ability  to  administer  justice.  It  shall  be 
the  earnest  aim  of  my  administration  to  foster  good 
feeling  and  to  enforce  law  and  order  throughout  the 
State  —  from  Currituck  to  Cherokee  the  law  must  have 
full  sway.  The  mob  has  no  place  in  our  civilization. 
The  courts  are  the  creation  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
juries  are  drawn  from  the  people.  If  changes  be  neces- 
sary in  order  to  secure  a  better  and  more  certain  admin- 
istration of  justice,  you,  gentlemen  of  the  Legislature, 
can  make  these  changes;  but  it  should  be  distinctly  and 
finally  understood  of  all  men  that  safety  can  be  found 
only  in  obedience  to  law. 

I  wish  to  say  to  the  negroes  of  this  State  in 
this  connection,  that  they  have  been  misinformed 
if  they  have  heard  that  this  administration  will  be 
unfriendly  to  them.  Their  every  right  under  the 
Constitution  shall  be  absolutely  preserved;  they  will 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  243 

find  security  in  right  conduct  and  certain  punish- 
ment for  failure  to  obey  the  law.  Let  them  learn  that 
crimes  which  lead  to  mob  law  must  cease  and  then  mob 
law  shall  curse  our  State  no  more.  I  call  upon  all 
upright  negroes  to  aid  me  in  suppressing  crime  in  all  its 
forms.  The  white  people  owe  a  high  duty  to  the  negro. 
It  was  necessary  to  the  safety  of  the  State  to  base 
suffrage  on  capacity  to  exercise  it  wisely.  This  results 
in  excluding  a  great  number  of  negroes  from  the  ballot, 
but  their  right  to  life,  liberty,  property  and  justice  must 
be  even  more  carefully  safeguarded  than  ever.  It  is 
true  that  a  superior  race  cannot  submit  to  the  rule  of  a 
weaker  race  without  injury;  it  is  also  true  in  the  long 
years  of  God  that  the  strong  cannot  oppress  the  weak 
without  destruction.  I  said  on  April  11,  1900,  and  I 
now  repeat  it  as  a  deep  conviction,  that  "universal 
justice  is  the  perpetual  decree  of  Almighty  God,  and 
we  are  entrusted  with  power  not  for  our  good  alone,  but 
for  the  negro  as  well.  We  hold  our  title  to  power  by 
tenure  of  service  to  God,  and  if  we  fail  to  administer 
equal  and  exact  justice  to  the  negro  whom  we  deprive  of 
suffrage,  we  shall  in  the  fulness  of  time  lose  power 
ourselves,  for  we  must  know  that  the  God  who  is  Love 
trusts  no  people  with  authority  for  the  purpose  of 
enabling  them  to  do  injustice  to  the  weak. " 

FREEDOM    OF   THOUGHT 

Let  us  serve  the  State  in  this  spirit  and  with  wisdom 
and  the  people  will  continue  to  trust  us,  but  if  we  depart 
from  this  plain  and  just  way,  power  will  drop  from  our 
hands,  for  the  Amendment  has,  I  believe  and  trust, 
brought  with  it  a  freedom  of  thought,  of  criticism 


244  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

and  of  action  that  will  be  swift  to  withdraw  a  trust 
abused. 

state's  high  destiny 
With  the  education  of  the  whole  people,  with  a  fair 
and  impartial  election  law,  with  peace  everywhere,  there 
will  be  nothing  to  prevent  us  from  working  out  the  high 
destiny  of  our  State.  Thought  will  be  set  free,  opinion 
can  have  its  full  sway  and  every  man  will  be  able  to 
declare  the  inmost  feelings  of  his  heart.  We  shall  have 
genuine  free  speech ;  our  newspapers  will  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  address  themselves  to  molding  public  opinion 
without  fear  of  injury  to  the  State.  Discussions  can 
then  take  the  place  of  abuse,  and  argument  will  supplant 
passionate  oratory.  In  this  new  and  freer  day  we  shall 
grow  brighter  men.  Trust  in  all  things  high  will  come 
easy  to  us.  We  shall  have  problems  and  differences, 
but  we  shall  have  the  intelligence  to  solve  the  problems 
and  the  good  spirit  to  harmonize  our  differences. 

WITH   AN   HUMBLE   HEART 

I  come  to  the  high  task  to  which  the  people  have 
called  me  with  many  misgivings.  I  know,  if  not  ade- 
quately, something  of  my  weakness,  and  I  likewise 
know,  if  not  to  the  fullest  extent,  the  many  diffi- 
culties which  will  beset  my  way.  I  come  to  the 
work  humbly,  with  deep  anxiety  and  with  an  earnest 
desire  to  serve  the  people  well.  The  manner  of  my 
coming  makes  it  all  the  more  incumbent  upon  me 
to  search  my  heart  that  I  may  have  no  impure 
motive  there;  one  who  has  been  trusted  after  such 
fashion  as  the  people  have  trusted  me  owes  the  high- 
est obligation  of  uprightness  in  thought  and  action. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  245 

Chosen  by  my  party  unanimously,  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple by  a  majority  such  as  has  never  been  given  to  any 
other  man,  I  am  bound  by  every  obligation  to  serve  to 
my  utmost.  The  task  is  a  difficult  one.  I  shall  make 
mistakes.  When  I  shall  have  done  the  right  thing  I 
shall  even  then  sometimes  be  misunderstood  by  my 
friends,  who  will  see  my  action  not  from  my  standpoint 
as  the  Governor  of  the  whole  people,  but  from  theirs. 
When  I  shall  have  done  wrong  I  shall  not  expect  ap- 
proval; I  do  not  wish  it.  I  want  to  know  my  mistakes 
to  the  end  that  I  may  correct  them,  because  I  am  cer- 
tain that  I  shall  be  judged  at  last  by  the  whole  tenor  of 
my  administration  and  by  no  one  particular  act. 

GOVERNOR  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

I  have  been  elected  as  a  Democrat.  I  shall  adminis- 
ter the  high  office  to  which  I  have  been  called  in  accord- 
ance with  the  policies  and  principles  of  that  great  party, 
but  I  wish  it  distinctly  understood  that  I  shall  strive  to 
be  a  just  Governor  of  all  the  people,  without  regard  to 
party,  color  or  creed.  The  law  will  be  enforced  with 
impartiality  and  no  man's  petition  shall  go  unheard  and 
unconsidered  because  he  differs  from  me  in  politics  or  in 
color.  My  obligation  is  to  the  State  and  the  State  is  all 
her  citizens.  No  man  is  so  high  that  the  law  shall  not 
be  enforced  against  him,  and  no  man  is  so  low  that  it 
shall  not  reach  down  to  him  to  lift  him  up  if  may  be 
and  set  him  on  his  feet  again  and  bid  him  Godspeed  to 
better  things. 

god's  blessings  on  us 

I  shall  need  the  support  of  every  citizen  in  the  State. 
My  work  is  your  work;  I  am  but  your  servant,  and  if  I 


246  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

serve  you  wisely  it  will  be  because  my  ears  shall  be  con- 
stantly open  to  counsel,  and  my  mind  shall  know  wis- 
dom. But  with  all  the  aid  which  can  come  from  men,  I 
shall  fail  unless  I  have  the  guidance  of  that  God  who 
rules  the  destinies  of  States  and  nations  and  men,  to 
Whom  with  reverence  I  commend  this  good  State  and 
her  gracious  people. 


CHAPTER  III 

A    MESSAGE    TO   THE    NEGRO 
(Address,  opening  the  Negro  State  Fair,  1901.) 

IT  AFFORDS  me  pleasure  to  open  this  fair.  I 
wish  the  colored  people  of  North  Carolina  to 
understand  by  every  act  and  expression  of 
mine  that  I  am  the  Governor  of  the  entire  State  and  all 
its  people,  and  that  any  interest  which  concerns  any 
individual  is  a  matter  of  importance  to  me.  It  has 
been  gratifying  to  me  that  those  to  whom  I  have  been 
opposed  politically  have  recognized  the  real  feeling 
which  exists  in  my  heart.  In  my  duty  as  a  servant  of 
the  State,  it  is  of  immense  value  that  those  of  opposite 
political  faith  should  feel  that  he  who  has  been  chosen 
to  serve  them  is  not  the  enemy  of  any  person  or  of  any 
race  in  the  State. 

I  have  earnestly  endeavored,  since  it  has  been  my 
fortune  to  be  the  Governor  of  the  State,  so  to  conduct 
the  high  office  to  which  I  was  chosen,  as  to  develop  the 
industrial,  commercial  and  educational  sides  of  our  life, 
because  in  these  we  have  heretofore  been  weakest. 
The  North  Carolina  people  are  in  many  respects  a 
strong  and  great  people.  They  love  liberty  and  they 
are  devoted  to  personal  independence.  They  need  no 
instructions  along  these  lines.     They  have  the  courage 

247 


248  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

of  their  convictions  and  are  ever  ready  to  assert  their 
political  arid  individual  rights.  What  we  have  needed 
and  what  we  do  need  is  instruction  along  industrial, 
commercial  and  educational  lines,  and  I  have  been 
anxious  to  be  an  humble  instrument  in  this  work. 

The  colored  people  of  North  Carolina  are  entitled  to 
much  credit  for  what  they  have  done.  At  the  close  of 
the  Civil  War  there  were  many  who  had  grave  appre- 
hension as  to  the  conduct  which  would  result  from  the 
freedom  of  the  negro.  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  state 
that  that  apprehension  proved  to  be  unfounded.  Your 
conduct  in  the  main  has  been  admirable.  You  have 
surpassed  expectations.  You  have  been  sober,  law- 
abiding,  and  industrious.  You  have  created  more 
value  in  freedom  than  you  did  in  slavery,  and  taken 
all  in  all,  you  deserve  the  thanks  of  the  Common- 
wealth. 

But  you  will  pardon  me  as  one  who  is  a  friend  of 
yours,  for  speaking  to  you  to-day  words  which  may 
seem  unkind,  but  are  in  fact  kind  because  truthful. 
There  are  many  things  in  your  freedom  which  you  have 
neglected.  There  are  many  things  yet  for  you  to  do. 
In  glancing  through  the  criminal  statistics  of  the  State, 
I  find  that  while  your  race  constitutes  only  one  third  of 
the  population  of  North  Carolina,  you  commit  one  half 
of  the  crimes.  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  your 
race  is  poor  and  weak  and  without  the  influence  of  the 
dominant  race,  and  that  therefore,  in  proportion  to 
actual  crime  committed,  a  few  more  are  indicted  than 
would  be  if  you  were  rich  and  powerful  and  with  the 
influences  which  tend  to  suppress  indictments.  But 
eliminating  this  unimportant  factor,  as  one  may  well 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  249 

do  in  a  just  State  like  this,  the  proportion  of  crime  in 
your  race  is  startling  and  dangerous  and  ought  to  evoke 
your  most  earnest  consideration.  Before  you  can  ever 
take  your  proper  place  in  the  world,  you  must  learn  first 
obedience  to  law.  This  ought  to  be  with  you  a  mat- 
ter of  constant  instruction  in  the  home,  in  the  school, 
in  the  church,  on  the  highway,  wherever  two  or  more  of 
you  may  gather,  until  it  becomes  a  part  of  your  very 
existence  and  grows  into  your  nature.  The  great 
strength  of  the  white  man  has  been  his  love  of  his 
home,  and  the  consequent  love  of  those  industries  which 
secure  to  him  his  home.  It  will  be  well  for  you  and  for 
your  race  when  you  shall  have  learned  that  your 
strength  is  founded  upon  industry  and  economy  and 
that  your  importance  in  the  State  will  increase  with 
your  growing  wealth.  This  fair,  therefore,  which  to 
some  extent,  but  inadequately,  illustrates  your  indus- 
tries, is  a  matter  of  importance  to  the  State.  It  shows 
what  you  have  done  and  encourages  you  to  do  more. 

It  may  not  be  inappropriate  for  me  upon  this  occasion 
to  express  to  you  the  hope  that  recent  events  occurring 
in  the  nation  may  not  unduly  excite  you,  and  that  you 
will  still  remember  that  your  best  friends  are  those  who 
live  in  your  State.  What  you  wish,  what  you  need 
more  than  recognition  by  the  President  or  other  people 
in  authority,  is  the  establishment  among  yourselves  of 
a  society  founded  upon  culture,  intelligence  and  virtue, 
and  in  no  wise  dependent  upon  those  of  a  different  race. 
The  law  which  separates  you  from  the  white  people  of 
the  State  socially  always  has  been  and  always  will  be 
inexorable,  and  it  need  not  concern  you  or  me  whether 
the  law  is  violated  elsewhere.     It  will  never  be  violated 


250  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

in  the  South.  Its  violation  would  be  to  your  destruc- 
tion as  well  as  to  the  injury  of  the  whites. 

No  thoughtful,  conservative,  and  upright  Southerner 
has  for  your  race  aught  but  the  kindest  feelings,  and  we 
are  all  willing  and  anxious  to  see  you  grow  into  the 
highest  citizenship  of  which  you  are  capable,  and  we 
are  willing  to  give  our  energies  and  best  thought  to  aid 
you  in  the  great  work  necessary  to  make  you  what  you 
are  capable  of,  and  to  assist  you  in  that  elevation  of 
character  and  of  virtue  which  tends  to  the  strengthen- 
ing of  the  State.  But  to  do  this  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  each  race  should  remain  distinct,  and  have  a 
society  of  its  own.  Inside  of  your  own  race  you  can 
grow  as  large  and  broad  and  high  as  God  permits,  with 
the  aid,  the  sympathy,  and  the  encouragement  of  your 
white  neighbors.  If  you  can  equal  the  white  race  in 
achievement,  in  scholarship,  in  literature,  in  art,  in 
industry,  in  commerce,  you  will  find  no  generous- 
minded  white  man  who  will  stand  in  your  way;  but  all 
of  them  in  the  South  will  insist  that  you  shall  accom- 
plish this  high  end  without  social  intermingling.  And 
this  is  well  for  you;  it  is  well  for  us;  it  is  necessary  for 
the  peace  of  our  section;  it  is  essential  to  the  education 
of  your  children  that  you  shall  accomplish  this  high  end 
upon  this  point. 

I  am  sure  that  you  agree  with  me  in  what  I  have  said 
and  in  the  spirit  of  one  who  is  the  Governor  of  the 
whole  people  without  regard  to  race.  I  bid  you  God- 
speed in  the  great  work  of  upbuilding  our  State,  of 
multiplying  her  industries,  of  increasing  her  commerce, 
of  educating  all  her  children.  I  find  no  little  encour- 
agement in  the  friendly  cooperation  of  the  men  and 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  251 

women  of  your  race  in  the  task  which  we  have  under- 
taken to  do,  that  of  educ  ting  all  the  children,  and  I 
pray  you  that  in  this  great  work  we  shall  not  be  re- 
tarded by  misunderstandings. 

I  now  formally  declare,  with  best  wishes  for  your 
success,  this  fair  open. 


CHAPTER  IV 


IN  DEFENCE  OF  HIS  POLICIES  AND  HIS  ADMINISTRATION 

(From  Address  Before  the  Democratic  State  Convention  at  Greens- 
boro, June  23,  1904.) 

SOMETHING  more  than  four  years  ago  —  to  be 
perfectly  accurate,  on  the  11th  of  April,  1900  — ■ 
I  accepted  at  the  hands  of  the  Democratic 
party  the  nomination  for  Governor  of  the  State.  On 
that  occasion  I  made  a  speech  to  the  united  and  demon- 
strative Democracy.  To-day  I  come  to  another  Demo- 
cratic convention  to  witness  the  selection  of  him  who 
shall  be  my  successor.  I  do  not  think  it  inappropriate 
upon  this  occasion  to  review  the  work  which  has  been 
done  in  this  State  since  that  day  in  April  when  you 
nominated  me  and  my  associates  for  office. 

The  memory  of  that  day  abides  with  me  still.  I 
recall  distinctly  the  fine  crowd  —  the  sturdy  and  deter- 
mined and  deeply  enthusiastic,  though  calm,  crowd  of 
men  whom  I  faced  that  day.  They  had  met  for  a  high 
purpose.  They  had  grown  weary  through  the  years  of 
the  struggle  for  good  government.  They  were  sick  at 
heart  with  the  makeshifts  to  which  we  had  been  com- 
pelled to  resort  in  order  to  free  the  State  from  the  dan- 
ger of  being  controlled  by  an  ignorant  mass,  voting  as 
one  man.     They  were  calmly  resolute  in  their  deter- 

252 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  253 

mination  once  for  all  to  put  an  end  to  these  conditions 
and  begin  a  new  day. 

I  remember  my  greatest  fear  then  was  —  and  I  so 
expressed  it  —  that  I  should  be  unable  rightly  to 
interpret  and  adequately  to  express  the  high  ideals  and 
noble  purposes  which  thrilled  the  hearts  of  North 
Carolinians  at  that  hour.  That  fear  still  abides  with 
me.  I  can  merely  say  that  I  have  honestly  endeavored 
day  by  day  to  realize  that  the  men  then  assembled 
were  willing  to  make  any  sacrifice  in  order  to  secure  the 
boon  of  good  government. 

That  I  have  fallen  short  of  their  expectations  I  know. 
That  I  have  failed  to  keep  my  own  ideals  I  am  certain, 
but  the  work  which  I  have  done  was  undertaken  in  the 
calm  confidence  that  your  generosity  would  forgive  the 
shortcomings  and  your  kindness  approve  in  terms  too 
strong  the  little  that  I  might  accomplish. 

In  speaking  of  the  work  of  the  past  administration 
I  shall  frequently  use  the  personal  pronoun  "I"  —  not 
from  any  desire  to  appropriate  the  work  done,  nor  I 
trust  from  any  source  of  vanity,  but  because  of  con- 
venience of  expression.  I  wish  to  say  in  the  beginning 
that  the  work  has  not  been  mine.  Whatever  good  has 
been  accomplished  has  had  the  whole  body  of  the  peo- 
ple behind  it  and  has  had  to  execute  it  the  united  force 
of  the  able,  honorable,  conscientious  men  with  whom  I 
have  the  honor  to  be  associated. 

The  closing  paragraph  of  the  speech  which  I  made  to 
the  convention  which  nominated  me  was  as  follows: 
"I  shall  respect  the  rights  of  property  and  rejoice  in 
prosperity,  but  I  shall  not  forget  that  they  who  toil, 
constitute  not  only  the  largest  class  of  our  people,  but 


254  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

from  their  labors  can  spare  little  time  to  urge  their  views 
upon  those  that  they  have  chosen  to  serve  them. " 

That  paragraph  I  conceive  to  represent  clearly,  if  not 
adequately,  the  duty  of  the  public  servant  in  a  repre- 
sentative Democracy.  This  administration  has  sought 
to  live  up  to  that  declaration.     .     .     . 

REASONS   FOB   EMPHASIZING   PUBLIC   EDUCATION 

Coming  into  office  at  a  new  period,  when  our  Con- 
stitution had  been  amended  in  such  fashion  that  after 
1908  no  person  then  coming  of  age  could  vote  unless  he 
could  read  and  write,  my  mind  has  naturally  been 
much  occupied  with  this  all-important  question.  As 
one  should  do  who  is  charged  with  the  enforcement  of 
the  law,  I  turned  for  guidance  to  that  document,  the 
product  of  the  great  thoughts  of  your  fathers  and  mine 
—  the  Constitution  of  North  Carolina,  and  I  read 
there  —  "Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being 
necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of 
mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall 
forever  be  encouraged."  I  read  again  and  found 
"That  the  people  have  a  right  to  the  privilege  of  edu- 
cation and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to  guard  and 
maintain  that  right. " 

I  have  earnestly  endeavored,  with  the  cooperation  of 
my  associates,  to  carry  out  these  high  provisions  of  our 
Constitution.  I  believe  with  Thomas  Jefferson  that 
"intelligence  should  ever  preach  against  ignorance 
as  the  enemy  of  liberty  and  of  moral  and  material 
progress." 

Believing  this,  pledged  to  it  by  the  platform  upon 
which  I  ran,  committed  to  it  from  my  early  boyhood,  I 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  255 

have  spent  the  greater  part  of  my  time  since  I  have 
been  Governor  in  proclaiming  this  doctrine  and  urging 
upon  the  people  the  importance  of  universal  education. 
I  have  not  stood  alone  in  this  work.  I  did  not  originate 
it.  I  cannot  even  claim  the  credit  of  having  ade- 
quately presented  it. 

The  doctrine  set  out  in  our  Constitution  and  advo- 
cated by  Thomas  Jefferson  was  held  in  this  State  in  her 
darkest  hour,  in  the  midst  of  war,  when  every  man  was 
needed  at  the  front  and  every  dollar  that  could  be  raised 
was  necessary  for  the  equipment  of  our  army.  It  was 
the  immortal  Vance  who  declared  in  a  message  to  the 
Legislature  that  "the  common  schools  should  surely  be 
kept  going  at  every  cost  and  if  sufficient  inducements 
cannot  be  offered  to  disabled  soldiers  and  educated 
women  to  take  hold  of  them,  the  necessary  males 
should  be  exempted  from  military  service. " 

Calvin  H.  Wiley,  founder  of  our  public  school  system 
and  the  most  eloquent  advocate  of  it,  in  the  very  midst 
of  that  great  clash  of  arms  when  darkness  began  to 
lower  over  the  Southern  cause,  declared  that  "The 
crowning  glory  of  North  Carolina  will  be  found  to  be 
that  when  every  nerve  and  muscle  of  the  country  were 
wrought  to  the  highest  tension  in  a  terrible  and  unex- 
ampled struggle  for  existence  and  independence,  she 
still  supported  a  vigorous  and  beneficent  system  of  free 
and  public  schools  which  were  attended  by  50,000  of  the 
children  of  her  patriotic  citizens." 

From  that  day  to  this,  the  patriotic  citizens  of  this 
State  have  been  struggling  to  reach  the  fulfilment  of 
that  pledge  of  our  Constitution  which  requires  the  Legis- 
lature to  provide  for  at  least  four  months  of  public 


256  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

schools  in  every  district  in  the  State.  Too  long  deferred, 
to  the  grievous  injury  of  the  State,  her  peace,  her  pros- 
perity, and  happiness,  we  have  under  this  administration 
successfully  met  this  requirement. 

The  patriotic  legislatures  chosen  by  the  people  have 
made  provision  for  it,  and  the  executive  officers,  under 
the  lead  of  our  admirable  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction,  have  carried  the  provisions  of  the  law  into 
effect.  To-day  we  can  boast  for  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  the  State  that  we  have  redeemed  our  pledge, 
kept  faith  with  the  people,  and  made  provision  for  all 
the  children.  If  the  child  is  blind,  we  have  teachers 
ready  to  open  his  eyes.  If  he  is  deaf,  he  can  be  taught 
to  speak.  If  he  is  friendless  and  poor,  the  schoolhouse 
door  stands  wide  open  to  shed  its  genial  warmth  upon 
him.     .     .     . 

To  do  these  things  has  cost  much  money,  and  to 
raise  money  in  North  Carolina  by  taxation  has  ever 
been  a  matter  liable  to  cause  offense.  None  of  us  pays 
taxes  cheerfully  or  graciously.  .  .  .  This  adminis- 
tration has  spent  much  money  and  it  is  glad  of  it. 
There  was  need  for  expenditure  of  money.  There  was 
a  demand  for  it,  and  we  have  met  it.  It  undoubtedly 
appears  cheaper  to  neglect  the  aged,  the  feeble,  the 
infirm,  the  defective,  to  forget  the  children  of  this 
generation,  but  the  man  who  does  it  is  cursed  of  God, 
and  the  State  that  permits  it  is  certain  of  destruction. 
There  are  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth  who  take  no 
care  of  the  weak  and  infirm,  who  care  nought  for  their 
children  and  provide  only  for  the  gratification  of  their 
own  desires,  but  these  people  neither  wear  clothes  nor 
dwell  in  houses.     They  leave  God  out  of  consideration 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  257 

in  their  estimate  of  life,  and  are  known  to  us  as  sav- 
ages. 

The  Republican  party  in  their  platform  expressly 
declare  themselves  in  favor  of  the  education  of  the 
masses;  in  favor  of  generous  public  aid  to  all  charitable 
institutions  of  the  State  and  the  enactment  of  pension 
laws  more  liberal  and  just  to  the  old  Confederate 
soldier.  If  they  do  favor  these  things,  then  they  must 
vote  the  Democratic  ticket  this  year,  for  what  they 
favor,  we  have  already  accomplished  and  so  far  from 
being  satisfied  with  our  work, 'we  stand  ready  to  obey 
the  command  "that  we  go  forward."  .     .     . 

DEMAND  FOR  PEACE  BETWEEN  THE  RACES 

When  I  was  elected  Governor  it  was  after  the  revo- 
lution of  1898.  It  was  in  the  same  campaign  in  which 
we  advocated  and  adopted  the  Amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution. These  two  campaigns  were  the  occasion  of 
much  bitterness.  They  gave  rise  to  intense  passion. 
They  set  the  two  races  in  the  State  in  fearful  antago- 
nism. The  adoption  of  the  Amendment  was  a  cause  of 
great  anxiety  to  our  colored  citizens.  Their  disfran- 
chisement was  to  them  a  matter  of  grievous  import, 
which  made  them  feel  that  they  were  something  less 
than  citizens  and  in  a  large  measure  cut  them  off  from 
hope.  I,  in  common  with  most  of  the  thoughtful 
citizens  of  the  State,  realized  this  feeling  of  theirs.  We 
had  made  the  fight  for  the  Amendment  in  no  enmity  to 
the  negro,  but  for  the  sake  of  good  government,  peace 
and  prosperity.  When  the  fight  had  been  won,  I  felt 
that  the  time  had  come  when  the  negro  should  be 
taught  to  realize  that  while  he  would  not  be  permitted 
to  govern  the  State,  his  rights  should  be  held  the  more 


258  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

sacred  by  reason  of  his  weakness.  I  knew  that  our  own 
passions  had  been  aroused  and  that  we  were  in  danger 
of  going  too  far.  I  realized  to  the  fullest  the  peril  of 
antagonizing  the  dominant  and  prevailing  thought  in 
the  State,  and  yet  I  believed  that  the  people  who  had 
chosen  me  Governor  did  so  in  the  hope  that  I  would  be 
brave  enough  to  sacrifice  my  own  popularity  —  my 
future  if  need  be  —  to  the  speaking  of  the  rightful 
word  and  the  doing  of  the  generous  act.  I  have  there- 
fore everywhere  maintained  the  duty  of  the  State  to 
educate  the  negro.  I  have  proclaimed  this  doctrine  in 
many  places  and  in  doing  so  I  have  frequently  met  the 
condemnation  of  friends  whose  good  opinion  I  esteem 
and  whose  loyalty  in  the  past  I  appreciate;  but,  holding 
my  views,  I  could  not  have  been  worthy  of  the  con- 
fidence of  the  great  people  of  this  State  if  I  had  con- 
tented myself  to  remain  silent.  My  position  has 
brought  satisfaction  and  even  happiness  to  many  hum- 
ble homes  in  North  Carolina,  and  the  negro,  whose 
political  control  I  have  fought  with  so  much  earnest- 
ness, has  turned  to  me  with  gratitude  for  my  support 
of  his  right  to  a  public  school  education. 

The  Amendment  drove  many  of  them  out  of  the 
State.  An  effort  to  reduce  their  public  schools  would 
send  thousands  more  of  them  away  from  us.  In  this 
hour,  when  our  industrial  development  demands  more 
labor  and  not  less,  it  becomes  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  we  shall  make  no  mistake  in  dealing  with  that  race 
which  does  a  very  large  part  of  the  work,  of  actual  hard 
labor  in  the  State.  I  appeal  to  the  generous  high- 
minded  North  Carolinians  to  realize  that  we  are  con- 
fronted with  a  condition  which  demands  statesmanship 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  259 

and  not  passion  and  prejudice.  While  holding  these 
views,  it  is  needful  for  me  to  say  that  I  have  recognized 
that,  heretofore,  much  injustice  has  in  many  instances 
been  done  to  the  whites  in  that  in  the  same  county 
schools  were  frequently  maintained  for  six  or  seven 
months  for  the  colored  in  certain  districts  and  for  only 
two  or  three  months  for  the  whites  in  other  districts. 
It  has  been  the  aim  of  this  administration  to  correct 
this  inequality  and  to  see  to  it  that  provision  was  made 
for  the  whites  which  should  certainly  be  equal  to  that 
made  for  negroes.  This  has  been  done  without  any 
Constitutional  Amendment,  but  under  the  plain  pro- 
visions of  our  law.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  you  to 
know  in  this  connection  the  facts  about  the  expenditure 
of  money  for  the  public  schools  from  1883  to  1903.  In 
1883  there  was  spent  for  the  schools  for  whites 
$306,805.55;  for  colored  $260,955.87.  There  was  spent 
$1.04  per  capita  for  white  children  and  $1.50  per  capita 
for  colored  children  —  a  difference  of  48  cents  in  favor 
of  the  negro.  .  .  .  For  1903  there  was  spent  for 
the  education  of  the  white  children  $865,700.17  and  for 
the  education  of  colored  children  $252,820.54;  per 
capita  expenditure  of  $1.89  for  whites  and  $1.14  for  the 
colored;  a  difference  in  favor  of  the  whites  of  75  cents 
per  capita.  These  are  the  facts  and  they  speak  for 
themselves. 

The  danger  which  I  have  apprehended  is  not  that  we 
shall  do  too  much  for  the  negro,  but  that  becoming 
unmindful  of  our  duty  to  him  we  shall  do  too  little. 
Having  taken  from  him  the  power  to  vote,  it  becomes  a 
strong  people  to  safeguard  with  the  utmost  care  every 
right  which  the  negro  has.     "  We  hold  our  title  to  power 


260  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

by  tenure  of  service  to  God, "  and  we  can  never  hope  to 
win  His  approval  if  we  do  injustice  to  the  weak.  Let  us 
cast  away  all  fear  of  rivalry  with  the  negro,  all  appre- 
hension that  he  shall  ever  overtake  us  in  the  race  of  life. 
We  are  the  thoroughbreds  and  should  have  no  fear  of 
winning  the  race  against  a  commoner  stock. 

ADVANCED    TEMPERANCE   LEGISLATION 

The  problem  of  dealing  with  the  liquor  traffic  is 
admittedly  the  most  difficult  one  which  confronts  the 
Government.  It  has  to  deal  with  the  appetites  of  men, 
and  in  a  free  government,  where  the  people  rule,  any 
legislation  tending  to  check  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  liquor  is  compelled  to  run  counter  to  the  great  princi- 
ple of  non-interference  with  the  personal  habits  of  the 
individual.  A  Democratic  government  therefore  is 
always  loath  to  deal  with  this  problem  and  never  does  so 
except  when  public  opinion  has  reached  the  point  at 
which  it  becomes  necessary  to  put  that  public  opinion 
into  legislation.  The  last  Legislature,  guided  by  this 
rule  and  fully  recognizing  its  obligation  within  the  limits 
of  the  Constitution  to  respond  to  popular  demand, 
adopted  what  is  known  as  the  Watts  law.  That  statute 
has  met  with  much  criticism  and  much  praise.  It 
proceeded  along  lines  well  established  in  this  State. 
For  more  than  twenty  years  each  succeeding  Legisla- 
ture has  adopted  a  bill  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  liquor  within  a  given  number  of  miles  of  various 
churches  and  schoolhouses.  The  number  of  such  places 
in  which  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  liquor  has  here- 
tofore been  prohibited  runs  up  into  the  thousands.  It 
is  perhaps  not  too  much  to  say  that  by  means  of  these 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  261 

various  acts,  liquor  could  neither  be  manufactured  nor 
sold  in  nine  tenths  of  the  territory  of  the  State.  I  recall 
one  whole  county  that  was  made  a  prohibition  county 
by  the  simple  device  of  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  liquor  within  a  certain  number  of  miles  of  the 
various  churches  and  schoolhouses  in  the  county.  The 
Legislature  of  1903,  finding  nine  tenths  of  the  territory 
of  the  State  "dry, "  decided  to  take  direct  steps  to  drive 
the  manufacture  and  sale  of  liquor  out  of  the  State 
except  in  incorporated  towns,  readily  concluding  that 
what  nine  tenths  of  the  State  already  enjoyed  and 
demanded,  was  good  for  the  other  tenth.  It  wisely 
considered  that  the  appetites  of  men  not  being  under 
the  control  of  legislation,  they  would  obtain  liquor  to  a 
more  or  less  extent.  It  therefore  provided  that  liquor 
could  be  manufactured  and  sold  in  the  towns,  but  that 
even  here  it  could  only  be  done  by  permission  of  the 
people  of  the  towns.  The  main  reason,  however,  for 
the  passage  of  the  Watts  law,  and  the  reason  which 
ought  to  satisfy  and  will  finally  satisfy  every  right 
thinking  man,  was  that  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
liquor  in  the  country  was  a  constant  menace  to  the 
peace,  quiet  and  good  order  of  the  country.  The 
towns  and  cities  maintain  a  police  force  and  thus  are 
enabled  to  restrain  and  lessen  the  evils  flowing  from 
drunkenness.  There  is  no  police  force  in  the  country 
and  the  State  is  not  prepared  to  maintain  one.  There 
is  no  greater  menace  to  the  quiet  and  good  order  of  any 
country  than  a  whiskev  still  and  a  barroom.  No  man 
will  deny  this. 

We  have  entered  upon  an  educational  awakening  in 
this  State  which  is  seeking  not  only  to  open  the  door  of 


262  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

the  schoolhouse  to  every  child,  but  to  persuade  and 
influence  every  child  to  enter  that  schoolhouse.  There 
are  men  who  have  seen  such  a  school  flourish  in  a  town 
close  by  a  barroom  or  a  still,  but  no  man  has  ever  yet 
seen  a  school  grow  up  and  prosper  by  the  side  of  a 
whiskey  still  or  a  barroom  in  the  country.  The  Legis- 
lature therefore  was  confronted  with  the  question 
whether  they  should  open  and  maintain  schoolhouses 
in  the  country  for  children,  or  whiskey  stills  and  bars 
for  the  men.  The  Legislature  made  its  choice  and  the 
people  will  ratify  it  at  the  polls.  In  my  judgment  this 
act  is  one  of  the  best  ever  passed  by  any  Legislature. 
The  conditions  justified  it.  The  demands  of  the  people 
required  it  and  the  results  have  proven  beneficial. 
With  the  passing  of  the  years  it  will  be  found  to  have 
been  a  most  effective  agency  in  the  cause  of  temper- 
ance.    .     .     . 

HOW     FREEDOM     FROM     THE     RACE     ISSUE     PROMOTED 
LIBERTY 

I  declared  in  my  speech  of  acceptance  that  with  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitutional  Amendment,  "We  will 
have  peace  in  the  land. "  "There  will  be  rest, "  I  said, 
"from  political  bitterness  and  race  antagonism.  Indus- 
try will  have  a  great  outburst.  We  shall  have  intel- 
lectual freedom.  Public  questions  will  stand  or  fall  in 
the  court  of  reason  and  not  of  passion.  We  shall  forget 
the  asperities  of  those  years  and  shall  go  forward  into 
the  twentieth  century  a  united  people,  striving  in  zeal 
and  in  generous  rivalry  for  the  material,  intellectual  and 
moral  upbuilding  of  the  State.  May  an  era  of  good 
feeling  among  us  be  the  outcome  of  this  contest." 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  263 

There  are  those  among  us  who  fear  that  these  pre- 
dictions have  not  been  fulfilled.  These  doubters  are 
looking  upon  the  surface  of  things.  They  do  not  look 
at  the  great  underlying  truth.  They  declare  that  bit- 
terness is  more  rife  than  ever  before;  that  the  era  of 
good  feeling  has  not  come ;  that  criticism  is  more  severe 
than  ever;  that  freedom  of  speech  is  not  permissible. 
They  have  mistaken  appearance  for  fact.  There  is 
bitterness  between  individuals.  There  is  strife  and 
enmity  between  some  people.  There  is,  of  course,  a 
reckless  criticism.  Our  people  had  been  so  long  re- 
strained by  the  necessity  of  staying  united  in  order  to 
face  the  danger  of  "negro  control  of  the  State  that  when 
they  first  gained  their  freedom  under  the  Constitutional 
Amendment  they  naturally  felt  called  upon  to  exhibit 
their  freedom  from  restraint  by  frequent  and  often 
undue  criticism.  Newspapers,  which  would  in  the  old 
days  have  unhesitatingly  sustained  my  administration 
at  every  point,  have  criticised  it  with  much  severity 
and  sometimes,  as  I  think,  with  much  injustice. 
Speeches  and  publications  which  heretofore  would  have 
attracted  universal  approval  or  universal  condemna- 
tion, according  to  the  side  which  they  were  on,  have 
met  with  a  divided  support  and  a  divided  criticism. 
Controversies  have  grown  large  about  small  things. 
Personalities  have  frequently  taken  the  place  of  the 
discussion  of  great  problems.  All  of  these  things  have 
been  done  in  assertion  of  our  new-born  freedom.  They 
are  ever  the  first  fruits  of  liberty  of  speech.  They 
mark  the  beginning  of  real  liberty,  which  will  here- 
after be  restrained  by  judgment.  They  show  that  the 
minds  of  our   people  are  active;   that  they  are  alert 


264  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

even  in  fault-finding.  They  can  be  destructionists,  but 
this  is  the  beginning  of  the  constructive  power  as  well. 
If  we  pull  down  now,  we  shall  build  hereafter.  If  we 
criticise  now,  we  shall  in  the  future  learn  that  effective 
criticism  is  that  only  which  is  based  on  fact,  and  then 
only  to  be  indulged  in  for  the  correction  of  evil  and 
for  the  purpose  of  turning  men  toward  better  things. 
This  bitterness  and  this  strife  has  not  reached  the  great 
body  of  the  people.  They  have  gone  about  their  work 
undisturbed  by  fault-finding  and  the  asperities  of  dis- 
cussion. They  have  found  in  industry  the  best  outlet 
for  their  superabundance  of  energy  and  they  are  bring- 
ing to  pass  a  wonderful  day  in  this  State. 

A   GREAT    INDUSTRIAL   AWAKENING 

Truly,  as  I  predicted,  there  has  been  a  great  out- 
burst of  industry.  At  the  time  of  the  taking  of  the 
census  in  1900  there  were  177  cotton  mills  in  this  State. 
Since  then  89  more  have  been  erected.  In  1909  these 
mills  had  1,133,432  spindles;  since  then  863,206  more 
have  been  put  in.  In  1900  there  were  25,469  looms; 
since  then  21,001  looms  have  been  added.  In  1900 
there  was  invested  in  cotton  mills  in  this  State 
$25,840,465;  since  then  $18,260,000  have  been  added  to 
the  investment.  We  have  added  50  per  cent,  to  our 
number  of  mills;  75  per  cent,  to  our  number  of  spindles; 
84  per  cent,  to  our  number  of  looms;  75  per  cent,  to  the 
capital  invested.  The  number  of  employees  in  the  cot- 
ton and  woolen  mills  increased  from  38,637  in  1900  to 
50,324  in  1903  —  a  fine  thing  in  this,  that  the  increase 
shows  4,000  more  men  than  women. 

For  the  three  years  of  1897,  1898  and  1899,  510  cor- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  265 

porations  were  formed  in  the  State.  For  the  years 
1901,  1902  and  1903,  1,276  were  added.  For  the  first 
three  years  the  510  corporations  were  capitalized  at 
$12,943,080.  For  the  last  three  years  the  1,276  corpo- 
rations were  capitalized  at  $100,341,850.  These  figures 
almost  pass  belief,  but  they  are  a  simple  presen- 
tation of  the  real  facts  of  the  business  revival  in  this 
State. 

Other  industries,  notably  the  manufacture  of  furni- 
ture and  other  articles  of  wood,  have  fully  kept  pace, 
if  not  outstript  that  of  cotton  manufacturing.  Agri- 
culture has  had  a  wonderful  growth.  Cotton  has  again 
become  king.  Large  portions  of  the  east  have  been 
converted  into  market  gardens  for  the  populous  cities 
of  the  North.  A  negro  tenant  in  my  county  of  Wayne 
recently  declared  that  he  had  made  $3,600  on  straw- 
berries, after  paying  his  rents,  and  then  added,  "You 
see  I  couldn't  afford  to  be  Guv'ner." 

A  gentleman  writing  to  me  recently  from  New  Bern, 
opposing  the  lease  of  the  Atlantic  &  North  Carolina 
Railroad,  declares  that  a  new  day  has  dawned  in  that 
section;  that  men  feel  secure  in  their  property,  safe  in 
their  business,  and  have  therefore  turned  their  attention 
to  business  and  that  the  whole  eastern  section  will  soon 
become  a  garden  out  of  which  the  Atlantic  &  North 
Carolina  Railroad  will  grow  rich.  This  feeling  of 
security  covers  the  State.  This  wonderful  investment 
of  capital  in  large  business  enterprises,  with  a  full 
knowledge  of  our  laws,  of  our  assessments,  of  our  needs, 
of  our  purposes  to  care  for  the  weak  and  afflicted,  and  to 
educate  the  young  —  proves  conclusively  that  the  busi- 
ness men  of  North  Carolina  realize  the  benefit  of  good 


266  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

government  and  the  profit  to  be  found  in  an  educated 
eople. 
In  view  of  all  these  facts  I  cordially  invite  every 
North  Carolinian  to  become  a  Democrat.  There  are 
those  who  say  that  we  ought  to  have  two  parties  in  the 
State.  The  time  may  come  when  this  will  be  true. 
It  will  certainly  come  if  the  party  in  power  proves 
unfaithful  to  its  trust  and  becomes  corrupt  or  ineffi- 
cient; but  for  the  present  —  with  an  honest  and  coura- 
geous administration  of  the  laws,  with  a  constant 
thought  for  the  needs  of  the  weak,  with  a  due  respect 
to  the  rights  of  the  strong,  with  an  earnest  endeavor  to 
serve  all  to  the  uplifting  of  the  whole  State  —  the 
Democratic  party  is  alone  sufficient.  We  need  a  united 
people.  We  need  the  combined  effort  of  every  North 
Carolinian.  We  need  the  strength  which  comes  from 
believing  alike.  But  I  am  no  advocate  of  compelling 
belief.  I  would  not  check  freedom  of  speech.  I 
would  set  no  limit  to  the  utterances  of  the  press,  save 
the  limit  which  the  law  always  sets,  that  of  speaking  the 
truth.  But,  having  spoken  the  truth,  having  printed 
the  truth,  I  would  have  all  our  people  to  believe  in  the 
possibilities  of  North  Carolina;  in  the  strength  of  her 
men;  the  purity  of  her  women,  and  their  power  to 
accomplish  as  much  as  can  be  done  anywhere  on  earth 
by  any  people.  I  would  have  them  to  become  dis- 
satisfied with  small  things;  to  be  anxious  for  higher  and 
better  things;  to  yearn  after  real  greatness;  to  seek  after 
knowledge;  to  do  the  right  thing  in  order  that  they  may 
be  what  they  ought.  I  would  have  the  strong  to  bear 
the  burdens  of  the  weak  and  to  lift  up  the  weak  and 
make  them  strong,  teaching  men  everywhere  that  real 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  267 

strength  consists  not  in  serving  ourselves,  but  in  doing 
for  others. 

I  see  the  day  coming  when  this  State  shall  sit  down 
at  the  common  table  of  the  Union  an  equal  sister  with 
all  the  others  gathered  there  —  equal  in  wealth,  equal 
in  high  performance,  equal  in  noble  ideals.  Nothing 
short  of  this  ought  to  satisfy  us,  and  to  attain  this  let  us 
ever  hope. 

I  thank  you,  gentlemen  of  the  convention,  for  the 
courtesy  you  have  extended  me  in  permitting  me  to  say 
these  things.  I  know  that  the  choice  which  you  shall 
make  to-day  will  be  a  worthy  one.  The  State  will  be 
in  good  hands  and  I  shall  return  to  the  life  of  a  private 
citizen,  forever  grateful  to  the  people  of  this  State  for 
the  honor  which  they  have  done  me  and  for  the  con- 
siderate courtesy  which  they  have  ever  shown  me. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  SOUTH  AND  THE  UNION 

(Speech  at  Charleston  Exposition  on  "President's  Day," 
April  9th,  1902 

GOVERNOR  AYCOCK'S  speech  at  the  Charles- 
ton Exposition  in  1902  was  notable  for  its  own 
sake,  but  even  more  notable  because  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  was  delivered.  Several 
persons  who  were  present  have  written  of  the  incident, 
but  perhaps  the  best  account  is  that  given  by  Mr.  J.  D. 
Bullock,  Leechville,  N.  C.       His  letter  follows: 

"I  take  pleasure  and  pride  in  calling  your  attention 
to  an  occasion  when  I  believe  ex-Governor  A\coc"k 
showed  what  manner  of  man  he  was  in  the  most  im- 
pressive and  thrilling  way,  and  with  such  brave  and 
forceful  language,  as  to  electrify  the  vast  audience  who 
heard  him.  I  refer  to  the  opening  sentences  of  his 
speech  in  the  Auditorium  at  the  Charleston  Exposition, 
April  9,  1902.  You  will  recall  that  this  was  the  oc- 
casion of  the  visit  of  Col.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  who  was 
at  that  time  President  of  the  United  States.  The  Pres- 
ident presented  to  Captain  Jenkins  of  South  Carolina, 
a  sword,  and  in  the  exchange  of  flattering  compliments 
following,  the  'Mason-Dixon  line'  was  being  rapidly 
erased  from  the  map  of  the  minds  of  those  present. 
Governor  McSweeney  of  South  Carolina  opened  up  for 
a  regular 'love  feast,'  declaring  that  he 'thanked  God 
there  was  now,  no  North,  nor  South,  no  East,  no  West,' 
and  proceeded  along  the  line  of  forgetfulness  of  the 
past  and  apology  for  ever  having  even  thought  dif- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  269 

ferently  from  our  Northern  brethren  about  the  Civil 
War.  When  Governor  Aycock  rose  to  speak,  the  vast 
audience  expected  he  would  follow  along  the  lines  set 
forth  by  the  President  and  the  Governor  of  South  Caro- 
lina. But  not  so.  Facing  the  sea  of  faces  that  rose 
tier  upon  tier  before  him,  he  turned  and  looked  over 
the  crowded  Auditorium,  and  after  a  word  of  greeting, 
said,  in  that  wonderful  vein  and  manner  that  has  so 
often  moved  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men :  '  There  is  a 
South,  and  a  glorious  South,  and  we  are  not  ashamed  of 
what  our  fathers  wrought  in  the  days  from  '61  to  '65.' 

"Nothing  I  could  write  would  convey  the  effect  of 
these  brave  and  loyal  words,  spoken  in  such  an  ir- 
resistible way,  upon  the  assembled  multitude.  The 
visitors  from  the  North  knew  it  was  true  and  appre- 
ciated it,  and  all  of  us  from  this  same  old  'Glorious 
South'  knew  it  was  true  and  gloried  in  it.  The  roof 
of  the  building  stayed  on,  but  we  put  in  motion  waves 
that  were  felt  all  over  the  country  by  our  cheers  and 
appreciation.  The  Charleston  News  and  Courier  on 
the  day  following,  contained  a  description  of  this  scene, 
and  by  referring  to  their  files  a  good  account  of  this 
incident  can  be  secured  which  will  be  more  in  detail 
than  I  can  give  in  my  letter,  as  I  write  from  memory. 
Not  ashamed,  not  afraid  to  do  right  —  ah !  if  we  could 
only  follow  the  example  of  this  friend  of  North  Carolina, 
how  much  better  and  nobler  our  lives  would  be." 

GOVERNOR  AYCOCK's  SPEECH 
(As  reported  in  the  Charleston  News  and  Courier,  April  10,  1902.) 
"Mr.  President:  I  thought  that  we  were  in  Charles- 
ton, S.  C,  but  this  warm  welcome  gives  me  the  impres- 
sion that  we  are  in  Goldsboro.  N.  C.  But  then  it  does 
not  make  any  difference  whether  it  is  North  or  South 
Carolina,  it  is  Carolina.  I  was  not  aware,  Mr.  Pres- 
ident, that  I  should  be  expected  to  say  anything  to- 
day, nor  did  I  know  that  it  was  fitting  that  I  should, 


270  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

until  I  reflected  that  in  the  early  days  all  of  these  two 
great  States  constituted  Carolina,  and  it  takes  them 
both  to  extend  to  the  President  of  the  United  States 
the  welcome  to  which  he  is  entitled.  (Applause.) 
There  is  a  very  fine  and  high  sense  in  which,  as  my  dis- 
tinguished friend,  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina 
said,  that  there  is  no  North  and  no  South,  and  yet  there 
is  another  finer  sense  in  which  I  am  glad  to  say  to-day 
that  there  is  a  South.  (Applause.)  When  I  glance 
over  the  magnificent  Exposition  which  has  been  made 
here  through  the  industries  of  these  people,  stricken  as 
they  had  been  by  four  years  of  disastrous  war;  when  I 
see  the  mighty  work  that  the  men  and  the  women  of 
this  section  of  our  common  country  have  done,  I  say 
there  is  a  South,  and  a  glorious  South.  (Applause.) 
And  then,  too,  when  I  reflect  upon  the  history  of  this 
country  of  ours  and  recall  the  glorious  deeds  of  the  no- 
ble people  of  this  State  when  they  were  struggling  with 
British  tyranny,  when,  under  the  leadership  of  that 
great  Revolutionary  soldier,  under  that  of  Marion  and 
others,  I  am  glad  to  say  that  there  is  a  South,  and  that 
in  the  number  there  is  no  truer  and  better  State  than 
South  Carolina.  (Applause.)  Nor  am  I  ashamed  of 
the  mighty  deeds  which  you  wrought  from  '61  to  '65. 
(Applause.)  I  shall  forever  defend  those  men  and 
women,  and  I  must  do  so  in  order  to  justify  the  splen- 
did courage  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
(Applause.)  They  were  a  great  folk.  Sturdy,  deter- 
mined, hot-blooded  maybe,  but  their  blood  stayed  hot 
through  four  years.  Your  hot-blooded  man  cools  under 
less  than  four  years  of  suffering.  But  it  took  from 
Bethel  to  Appomattox  to  cool  the  blood  of  these  South- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  271 

era  people.  They  were  tired  of  fighting  against  their 
brethren,  but  they  had  just  gotten  themselves  into  good 
training  for  fighting  the  greatest  battles  of  life.  And 
so  I  say  that  I  have  ceased  to  talk  about  the  fact  that 
we  are  in  the  Union,  for  we  never  got  out.  (Ap- 
plause.) And  if  there  be  any  State  —  in  the  Philip- 
pines or  elsewhere  —  that  wants  to  secede,  we  will 
teach  them  that  they  can't  get  out."     (Applause.) 

President  Roosevelt  applauding:  "You  are  ail 
right,  Governor." 

"Mr.  President,  the  old  negro  illustrated  the  Southern 
feeling  when  he  said:  'You  need  not  be  talking  about 
these  Southern  people  being  prodigal  sons.  If  they  were, 
they  were  like  the  fellow  that  walked  in  and  said :  ' '  Look 
here,  where's  that  veal?"  No  fatted-calf  for  the  peni- 
tent sons  of  the  South.  It  is  our  Union  made  after  the 
splendid  hearts  and  the  glorious  minds  of  Revolution- 
ary heroes,  wrought  out  with  loss  of  blood  and  treasure 
and  death  and  suffering;  sustained  through  fifty  years 
of  a  glorious  peace,  and  made  stronger  in  the  blood  shed 
on  both  sides  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  It  is  our  Union. 
As  our  Union  I  come  in  the  name  of  the  sister  State  of 
North  Carolina  to  extend  cordial  greeting  and  welcome 
to  our  President.  (Applause.)  And  I  may  say  for  the 
President  that  I  know  that  he  is  happier  that  he  may  be 
President  of  a  people  who  are  proud  of  their  history, 
than  he  would  be  to  be  President  of  a  people  who  were 
ashamed  of  it.  (Applause.)  And  so,  in  the  name  of 
all  the  manhood,  and  in  the  name  of  that  better  portion 
of  our  population,  the  splendid  women  —  than  which 
there  is  no  greater  —  of  North  and  South  Carolina,  I 
bid  you  welcome."     (Continued  applause.) 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE   GENIUS   OF   NORTH    CAROLINA   INTERPRETED 

(Address,  welcoming  visiting  Sons  of  North  Carolina,  at  Greensboro, 
N.  C,  Reunion,  October,  12,  1903.) 


f   flF^HIS  State  of  your  nativity  is  worthy  of  your 

|j        love.     Her  history  is  such  as  to  justify  your 

-*-      pride  in  her.     Her  achievements  compare  with 

those  of  any  other  State,  and  make  her  sons,  wherever 

they  be,  proud  to  be  known  as  North  Carolinians. 

She  was  the  first  of  the  colonies  to  be  settled,  and, 
although  that  settlement  was  not  successful,  it  is  a 
source  of  gratification  that  it  was  made  under  the 
patronage  of  the  soldier,  navigator,  scholar,  statesman, 
and  martyr,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh. 

On  her  soil  the  first  white  child  born  of  English  par- 
entage came  to  bless  the  Western  World. 

Here  liberty  had  its  birth,  and  here  it  rejoices  in  its 
fullest  beauty.  North  Carolina  was  settled  by  men 
who  found  the  liberty  of  other  colonies  and  States  short 
of  their  desires.  English,  Virginians,  French,  New 
Englanders,  Swiss,  Germans,  Huguenots,  Scotch, 
Irish  —  of  whatever  nationality  they  might  be,  they 
sought  this  land  in  order  that  they  might  found  a  State 
which  should  be  a  fit  home  for  "the  freest  of  the  free." 
"They  were  imbued  with  a  passion  for  liberty,"  says 

£72 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  273 

Bancroft;  and  in  their  earliest  days  they  secured  for 
themselves  and  transmitted  to  us  both  "liberty  of 
conscience  and  of  conduct."  "With  absolute  freedom 
of  conscience,  benevolent  reason  was  the  simple  rule  of 
their  conduct."  "They  were  tender  and  open,"  gentle 
to  the  weak,  and  fierce  only  against  tyranny.  They 
were  led  to  the  choice  of  their  residence  from  the  hatred 
of  restraint,  and  "lost  themselves  in  the  woods  in 
search  of  independence."  "Are  there  any  who  doubt 
man's  capacity  for  self-government?"  says  Bancroft; 
"let  them  study  the  history  of  North  Carolina.  Its 
inhabitants  were  restless  and  turbulent  in  their  imper- 
fect submission  to  a  government  imposed  on  them  from 
abroad.  The  administration  of  the  colony  was  firm, 
humane,  and  tranquil  when  they  were  left  to  take  care 
of  themselves.  Any  government  but  one  of  their  own 
institution  was  oppressive."  Living  far  removed  from 
contact  with  the  government  which  sought  to  rule 
them,  freed  from  the  blandishments  of  power,  "disci- 
plined in  frugality,  and  patient  of  toil, "  it  is  no  wonder 
that  our  North  Carolina  ancestors  resisted  to  the  ut- 
most tyranny  of  provincial  and  colonial  rule.  They 
were  in  constant  warfare  with  their  governors,  and 
repeatedly  turned  them  out  of  the  province. 

When  the  struggle  with  Great  Britain  came,  North 
Carolina  was  in  the  front. 

It  can  occasion  no  surprise  then  when  we  are  told  by 
Mr.  Bancroft  that  "the  first  voice  for  dissolving  all 
connection  with  Great  Britain  came,  not  from  the  Puri- 
tans of  New  England,  the  Dutch  of  New  York,  or  the 
planters  of  Virginia,  but  from  the  Scotch  Presbyterians 
of  North  Carolina." 


274  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

It  was  another  great  day  for  liberty  when  the  patriots 
of  this  State,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  February,  1776, 
gained  the  signal  victory  at  Moore's  Creek  over  the 
Tories  who  were  seeking  to  unite  their  forces  with  those 
of  Sir  Henry  Clinton.  The  result  of  that  early  victory 
for  American  arms  broke  the  backbone  of  Toryism, 
and  gave  to  the  patriots  a  zeal  and  confidence  which 
stood  them  in  stead  in  the  darkest  hours  of  the  war  for 
independence. 

It  was  your  ancestors  again  who,  in  conjunction 
with  their  neighbors,  won  the  great  victory  at  King's 
Mountain. 

It  was  your  ancestors  who,  in  this  very  county,  fought 
the  great  fight  of  Guilford  Courthouse,  and,  while 
suffering  a  defeat,  so  crippled  Cornwallis  that  he  was 
compelled  to  yield  his  sword  to  Washington  at  York- 
town. 

When  she  had  won  her  independence,  North  Caro- 
lina set  such  store  by  it  that  she  declined  to  join  the 
American  Union  until  the  sovereignty  of  the  State  and 
the  liberty  of  the  individual  had  been  provided  for  by 
the  proposal  of  the  first  ten  amendments  to  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States.  But,  once  in  the  Union, 
this  State  loved  it.  The  government  was  one  of  our 
own  formation,  and  our  people  have  ever  been  willing 
to  yield  obedience  to  the  laws  of  their  own  enactment. 
Even  when  the  people  thought  the  Constitution  had 
been  violated,  and  their  rights  infringed,  their  love  for 
the  Union  was  so  great  that  with  singular  unanimity 
they  determined  to  remain  in  it,  and  secure,  if  possible, 
under  the  stars  and  stripes  that  protection  to  which 
they  felt  themselves  entitled.     But  when  the  other 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  275 

Southern  States  went  out  of  the  Union,  and  we  were 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  necessity  of  taking  sides, 
then  our  people  in  convention  assembled,  without  a 
single  dissenting  vote,  went  out  of  the  Union,  and 
sought  at  every  cost  to  secure  again  that  independence 
which  our  fathers  had  won. 

Late  in  going  out,  this  State  offered  the  first  life  on 
the  altar  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  Having  made 
up  her  mind  to  fight  for  independence,  she  sent  to  the 
front  more  soldiers  than  there  were  voters  within  her 
borders.  She  lost  more  men  in  killed  and  wounded 
than  any  other  Southern  State;  charged  farthest  at 
Gettysburg;  laid  down  the  greatest  number  of  guns  at 
Appomattox,  and  quit  the  fight  with  as  deep  regret  as 
any  of  her  sisters.  I  care  not  on  which  side  one  fought 
in  that  great  contest;  the  achievements  of  North 
Carolina  soldiers  were  too  great  to  excite  bitterness  in 
any  breast  that  loves  heroic  sacrifice  and  daring  deeds. 
Her  men  won  for  humanity  a  still  higher  place  for 
stubborn  courage  than  had  heretofore  been  gained. 
They  went  into  the  fight  reluctantly,  because  of  their 
deep  love  for  the  Union  which  their  fathers  had  ce- 
mented with  their  blood.  They  went  to  the  front  well 
clothed,  well  fed,  in  high  spirits,  certain  of  success. 
They  left  at  the  end  in  tatters  and  rags,  footsore  and 
hungry,  but  their  tears  watered  the  ground  where  the 
greatest  leader  of  soldiers,  the  highest  type  of  Christian 
manhood,  the  purest  and  truest  and  the  best  of  men, 
General  Robert  E.  Lee,  surrendered  his  sword. 

They  came  back  to  the  State  weary,  worn,  and 
sorrowful.  They  found  the  population  depleted. 
Their  farms  had  gone  to  ruin,  their  fences  were  down, 


£76  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

their  ditches  were  filled,  their  stock  were  slaughtered, 
in  too  many  instances  their  houses  were  burned.  But 
they  did  not  sit  down  in  the  desolation  of  their  despair. 
With  a  courage  worthy  of  the  great  men  who  fought 
during  the  Revolution,  they  turned  their  faces  to  the 
morning,  put  their  trust  in  God,  and  resolutely  deter- 
mined to  build  again  their  homes  and  do  honor  to  their 
mother  for  whom  they  had  suffered  so  much.  And  right 
well  have  they  wrought.  To-day  our  fields  abound  with 
harvest.  From  the  mountains  to  the  seashore  there  is 
abundance.  There  is  not,  from  Hatteras  to  Murphy, 
from  Virginia  to  South  Carolina,  a  man,  woman,  or  child 
who  is  hungry  to-day.  North  Carolina  and  South 
Carolina  manufacture  60  per  cent,  of  all  the  cotton 
manufactured  in  the  South,  and  of  this  60  per  cent, 
this  State  claims  over  half.  Within  this  county  the 
forty  furniture  factories,  giving  employment  to  thou- 
sands of  skilled  laborers,  sell  their  furniture  in  Grand 
Rapids,  and  take  tribute  to  their  superior  workmanship 
from  every  State  in  the  Union.  The  census  shows  that 
we  more  than  doubled  our  investments  in  manufactures 
in  the  last  decade.  We  grow  more  cotton  on  less  acre- 
age than  ever  before,  while  our  tobacco  crop  in  value 
exceeds  that  of  any  State  in  the  Union.  Our  vegetable 
gardens  have  grown  into  fields,  and  we  feed  the  crowd- 
ing multitudes  of  the  Eastern  cities.  In  every  depart- 
ment of  human  activity  your  brothers  here  are  forging 
to  the  front.  We  stand  in  the  morning,  with  our  faces 
to  the  light,  and  gladly  hear  the  command  that  "we 
go  forward. "     . 

In  your  travels  you  may  have  run  across   "the 
scorners  who  scoff  at  and  the  witlings  who  defame" 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  277 

this  State.  You  may  have  heard  that  she  is  ignorant 
and  provincial,  but  I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you 
what  your  affection  already  knows,  that  there  can  be 
found  nowhere  within  her  borders  a  man  known  out  of 
his  township  ignorant  enough  to  join  with  the  fool  in 
saying  "There  is  no  God. "  There  is  no  man  amongst 
us  whose  hand  is  so  untrained  that  it  does  not  instinc- 
tively seek  his  hat  in  the  presence  of  a  woman.  There 
is  no  ear  so  untaught  that  it  does  not  hear  the  cry  of 
pity;  and  no  heart  so  untutored  that  it  does  not  beat  in 
sympathy  with  the  weak  and  the  distressed.  Illiterate 
we  have  been;  but  ignorant,  never.  Books  we  have  not 
known;  but  of  men  we  have  learned,  and  of  God  we 
have  sought  to  find  out.  "A  gentle  people  and  open," 
frank  and  courteous,  passionate  when  aroused,  and 
dangerous  in  conflict;  capable  of  sacrifice,  among 
warriors  the  first  —  praised  by  men  as  warriors  only 
because  of  the  high  courage  manifested  there,  giving 
promise  of  the  wonderful  achievements  which  lie  before 
us  in  peace. 

These  are  your  people;  they  are  my  people.  I  am 
proud  of  their  history;  proud  of  their  character;  and 
glad  to  introduce  you  to  them  again.  Your  brethren 
all  wish  you  to  stay  among  us  to  the  utmost  limit  of 
your  time,  to  see  us  and  know  us  as  we  are.  If  you 
find  our  material  condition  better  than  it  was  when  you 
left  us,  we  claim  no  praise  for  it.  If  we  have  done  well, 
it  is  because  we  were  taught  aright  by  those  who  went 
before  us,  taught  at  their  expense;  and  credit  belongs 
to  them  alone.  We  think  we  hold  on  to  the  truths 
which  our  fathers  taught  us.  We  believe  that  we  still 
maintain  a  passion  for  liberty;  that  we  love  indepen- 


278  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

dence,  and  set  more  store  by  honor  than  by  wealth,  and 
that  we  seek  wealth  only  in  order  that  the  earth  may 
grow  better  by  what  we  do.  In  log  cabin,  in  frame 
house,  in  modern  mansion,  each  and  all  of  you  will  find 
a  welcome.  The  latchstring  hangs  outside  the  door  — 
but  not  for  you.  The  latchstring  is  for  the  stranger 
only;  the  door  stands  open  for  you.     .     .     . 

I  extend  to  you  all  the  liberties  of  the  State,  and 
invoke  that  pious  benediction  of  Tiny  Tim,  "God 
bless  us  every  one!" 


CHAPTER  VII 


HOW   THE   SOUTH   MAY   REGAIN   ITS   PRESTIGE 

(Address   Before  Southern   Educational  Association,   Jacksonville, 
Fla.,  December,  1903.) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 


T 


HE  late  Senator  Hoar  in  an  address  which  he 
delivered  at  Charleston  a  few  years  ago  used 
this  language: 


"The  American  people  have  learned  to  know  as  never  before  the 
quality  of  the  Southern  stock,  to  value  its  noble  contribution  to  the 
American  character;  its  courage  in  war,  its  attachment  to  home  and 
State;  its  love  for  rural  life,  its  capacity  for  great  action  and  generous 
emotions;  its  aptness  for  command  and,  above  all  this,  constancy, 
the  virtue  above  all  virtues,  without  which  no  people  can  be  either 
great  or  free.  After  all,  the  fruit  of  this  vine  has  a  flavor  not  to  be 
found  in  other  gardens.  In  the  great  and  magnificent  future  which 
is  before  our  country,  you  are  to  constitute  a  large  measure  both  of 
strength  and  beauty." 

When  we  read  this  the  splendid  tribute  to  the  South, 
all  of  our  hearts  swelled  with  pride  and  were  glad.  We 
rejoiced  to  find  appreciation  at  the  North  and  a  rarely 
beautiful  expression  of  our  real  character.  The  pre- 
diction that  a  great  and  magnificent  future  for  our 
country  was  to  be  based  in  large  part  on  the  strength 
and  beauty  of  the  South  brought  to  all  Southern  people 

279 


280  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

a  distinct  pleasure.  The  question  now  arises  among  us, 
however,  as  to  whether,  despite  this  prediction,  we  have 
any  large  part  in  the  life  of  this  nation,  and  if  not,  how 
can  we  make  good  and  secure  our  proper  share  in  the 
affairs  of  the  country. 

To-day  it  seems  to  me  that  we  have  less  effect  upon 
the  thought  and  action  of  the  nation  than  at  any  period 
of  our  history. 

Before  the  war  between  the  States,  Southern  states- 
men directed  the  policies  of  the  nation  and  filled  the 
largest  place  in  the  eye  of  the  people.  They  wrote  few 
books,  but  their  speeches  illuminated  every  subject 
which  they  touched  and  set  the  fashion  of  political 
thought.  In  this  day  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
what  any  Southern  man  thinks  of  political  question  or 
governmental  duty  carries  no  weight  in  their  final 
settlement.  There  must  be  a  cause  underlying  this 
fact.     What  is  it?     How  shall  it  be  remedied? 

Until  1865  the  Southern  States,  while  in  form  a  Demo- 
cratic government,  were  in  fact  an  aristocracy,  and  out 
of  this  aristocracy  they  chose  —  as  aristocracies  ever 
do  —  their  best  men  for  public  service.  The  wisest, 
the  strongest,  the  most  learned  were  ever  to  the  front; 
they  were  the  natural  leaders  of  a  brave  and  generous 
people  who  followed  their  leadership  with  pride  and 
pleasure.  With  the  close  of  the  war  the  democracy 
arose  and  each  man  became  a  factor  in  the  government 
of  his  country.  Leadership  was  not  so  able  or  cultured. 
More  blunders  were  committed  and  more  unwise  views 
propagated  and  believed  in.  Aristocracy  was  always 
trained.  Democracy,  if  it  is  to  be  as  effective,  must 
likewise  be  trained. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  281 

Universal  education  is  therefore  the  imperative  and 
only  remedy  for  our  loss  of  power  in  the  nation.  But 
how  shall  we  be  trained?  Are  we  to  forget  the  memo- 
ries of  the  past;  to  break  away  from  our  traditions;  to 
join  with  those  who  are  clamoring  for  the  adoption  of 
the  convictions  which  we  have  combated  for  many 
years?  I  think  not.  No  people  can  ever  become  a 
great  people  by  exchanging  its  own  individuality,  but 
only  by  developing  and  encouraging  it.  We  must 
build  on  our  own  foundation  of  character,  tempera- 
ment, and  inherited  traits.  We  must  not  repudiate, 
but  develop.  We  must  seek  out  and  appreciate  our 
own  distinctive  traits,  our  own  traditions,  our  deep- 
rooted  tendencies,  and  read  our  destiny  in  their  inter- 
pretation. 

We  must  put  away  vainglory  and  boasting  and  take 
an  impartial  inventory  of  all  the  things  that  we  have 
and  are;  and  these  things  can  only  come  to  us  through 
the  training  of  all  our  citizenship.  We  have  in  the  South 
to-day  our  Hills,  our  Lamars,  our  Becks,  our  Vests, 
our  Vances,  and  our  Hamptons  (all  of  them  products 
of  the  period  before  the  war);  but  no  man  can  go 
through  the  country  and  lay  his  hand  on  the  head  of 
any  single  child  and  say  that  here  is  a  Lamar,  here  is  a 
Vance,  or  a  Vest,  or  a  Hill,  or  a  Hampton,  or  a  Beck. 
It  is  the  business  of  the  schools  to  find  for  us  these 
splendid  children  and  develop  them  into  these  great 
leaders.  If  I  believed  in  universal  education  for  no 
other  reason,  this  would  be  to  me  a  sufficient  one. 

But  there  are  other  reasons.  We  must  educate  every- 
body in  our  respective  neighborhoods  in  order  that  we 
may  have  the  benefit  of  competitions  and  appreciation. 


282  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

You  may  educate  your  son  and  daughter  to  the  fullest 
extent  possible,  giving  to  them  the  learning  of  all  the 
world,,  and  after  their  education,  put  them  in  a  com- 
munity where  there  are  no  other  educated  people,  and 
they  will  fail  to  develop  and  grow  as  they  would  if  they 
lived  in  a  community  where  there  was  general  culture. 
The  man  who  stands  easily  head  and  shoulders  above 
his  neighbors  will  never  be  very  tall.  If  he  is  to  sur- 
pass his  neighbors  and  be  really  great,  he  must  have 
neighbors  who  are  almost  great  themselves.  He  can- 
not work  out  of  himself  the  best  there  is  in  him  until  he 
is  forced  to  do  so  by  the  competition  of  others  almost  or 
quite  as  strong  as  he.  When  the  trainers  of  horses 
sought  to  reduce  the  time  in  which  it  took  to  trot  a  mile, 
they  did  not  go  and  pick  out  a  particular  colt  and  train 
him  for  the  track,  but  the  trainers  all  over  the  world 
were  developing  colts.  Ten  thousand  of  them  were 
trained  until  year  by  year  the  record  was  lowered,  and 
when  at  last  lovers  of  horses  wanted  to  reduce  the 
record  below  two  minutes,  after  training  thousands  of 
horses  for  the  purpose,  they  found  one  which  they 
thought  could  accomplish  the  task.  And  then  they 
did  not  put  her  on  the  track  alone,  but  with  two 
running  horses  ridden  by  boys  with  whip  and  spur 
they  pressed  them  on  the  heels  of  the  trotter,  drove 
her  to  her  utmost  speed,  aroused  her  spirit  of  victory, 
maddened  her  with  the  fear  of  defeat,  until  in 
one  last  mad  burst  she  broke  the  world's  record 
to  1:68J. 

Men  must  win  their  great  victories  after  the  same 
fashion.  In  the  race  of  life,  if  they  are  to  win  a  victory 
worth  winning,  they  must  run  against  thoroughbreds. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  28S 

If  we  pass  under  the  wire  ahead  of  a  scrub,  there  is  no 
honor  in  it. 

We  want  the  schools  to  find  all  of  the  strongest  and 
best  in  competition  one  with  the  other  until  the  fullest 
power  of  each  shall  be  developed.  In  doing  this  we 
shall  get  the  largest  contribution  to  society.  When  we 
have  filled  each  man  full  according  to  his  capacity, 
whether  that  be  much  or  little,  he  will  overflow,  and  the 
surplus  belongs  to  us.  It  is  the  full  fountain  which, 
because  it  is  full,  overflows  and  makes  the  green  grass 
grow  and  the  plants  burst  into  flower.  It  is  a  full  man 
who,  having  all  he  needs,  can  contribute  to  the  wants  of 
others. 

It  is  needful,  too,  in  order  to  get  the  best  out  of  men, 
that  we  shall  be  able  to  recognize  a  fine  thing  when  it  is 
done.  No  man  can  speak  to  people  who  cannot  hear, 
no  musician  can  play  for  those  whose  ears  are  not 
attuned  to  harmony,  and  no  man  can  paint  for  those 
whose  eyes  are  not  trained  to  see  the  beauty  which  he 
produces.  There  must  be  an  appreciative  audience 
before  any  man  can  do  his  best.  If  a  woman  sings  her 
best  songs  and  strikes  the  deepest  chords  of  music 
when  her  sweetheart  tells  his  story  of  love,  it  is  because 
she  believes  that  he  understands  and  appreciates  the 
beautiful  thing  she  is  doing.  If  she  closes  her  piano 
and  puts  away  her  music  after  the  wedding,  it  is  be- 
cause she  has  discovered  that  the  man  she  loves  best 
does  not  realize  the  splendid  talent  that  is  hers.  The 
woman  who  spends  her  days  and  nights  studying  light, 
shadow,  and  perspective,  who  mixes  her  colors  with  her 
own  lifeblood,  can  never  create  a  great  painting  unless 
she  feels  that  some  heart  shall  understand  the  fine 


284  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

thing  she  has  done  and  some  soul  be  uplifted  by  her 
work. 

If  these  things  be  true  —  and  that  they  are  I  am 
assured  —  then  it  must  needs  be  that  the  finest  things 
can  be  done  only  by  education  of  the  masses. 

It  is  education  that  finds  and  brings  out  for  us  the 
noblest  and  best.  It  stimulates  these  best  to  the  ut- 
most exertion  and  fullest  development  by  putting  them 
in  competition  with  others  just  as  well  trained  as  them- 
selves, and  it  gives  to  us  the  noblest  and  most  apprecia- 
tive audiences.  When  this  thought  shall  become  the 
guiding  thought  of  the  South,  and  our  school-teachers 
shall  work  all  the  time  to  their  utmost  until  every  son 
and  daughter  of  the  South  is  the  thing  that  God  in- 
tended —  then,  and  not  until  then,  shall  we  take  our 
rightful  place  in  the  American  Union. 

To  reach  this  place  will  cost  us  much  —  much  money, 
much  toil,  much  sacrifice;  but  everything  that  is  worth 
while  always  does  cost  much,  and,  indeed,  the  finest 
things  can  only  be  had  at  the  highest  prices,  and  then 
only  when  paid  for  in  advance.  No  speech  ever  yet  fell 
from  mortal  lips  worth  remembering  a  moment  after  it  is 
delivered  that  did  not  come  after  the  speaker  had  paid 
for  it  in  advance.  No  song  was  ever  sung  that  raised 
the  hearts  of  the  people  and  made  them  long  for  better 
things  that  was  not  sung  after  the  singer  had  suffered 
all  she  sang.  No  preacher  ever  stirred  the  souls  of  his 
congregation  and  put  them  to  yearning  after  "a  closer 
walk  with  God"  whose  sermon  was  not  made  after  his 
own  hands  had  been  nailed  upon  the  Cross  by  the  side  of 
his  Lord  and  Master.  No  man  reaches  the  highest 
mountain  peak  until  he  has  bruised  his  knees  and 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  285 

scrambled  over  boulders  and  fallen  into  the  gulches  on 
his  way  up  the  height.  Indeed,  before  he  reaches  there 
his  head  shall  split  with  aching,  his  back  shall  break  and 
the  nails  on  his  fingers  shall  be  torn  out  by  the  roots  as 
he  pulls  himself  up  the  rugged  way.  But  when  he  does 
reach  the  top,  the  world  lies  at  his  feet  and  the  pathway 
seems  to  him  no  longer  difficult.  The  boulders  are  out 
of  sight,  gently  covered  by  the  grass  that  grows  by  the 
wayside,  while  the  flowers  burst  into  the  beauty  of  the 
eternal  morning.  The  struggle  upward  is  worth  the 
cost,  and  without  the  cost  would  not  be  worth  while. 

The  South,  which  bore  so  much,  sacrificed  all  of  her 
wealth,  and  gave  the  life  of  her  young  men  in  such 
numbers  as  to  appal  the  historians  —  she  ought  now 
to  be  able  to  do  anything  necessary  to  achieve  the  best 
things  that  are  to  be  found  in  the  world.  We  must 
learn  all  that  can  be  learned,  do  all  that  can  be  done, 
and  be  all  that  we  ought  to  be.  The  learning  and  doing 
will  not  give  us  power  until  we  are  what  we  ought  to  be, 
for  power,  permanent  and  lasting,  must  finally  be  based 
on  righteousness. 

When  the  war  between  the  States  closed  and  the 
incomparable  leader  of  the  Southern  armies  cast  about 
to  find  the  work  he  ought  to  do,  he  became  a  teacher. 
Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee,  the  greatest  soldier  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  was  greater  in  peace  than  in  war.  He 
realized  that  the  South  could  only  be  made  great, 
powerful,  and  controlling  through  the  schoolhouse,  and 
he  devoted  the  last  years  of  his  life  to  the  high  purpose 
of  teaching.  When  he  came  to  die,  tossing  on  his  last 
bed  of  illness,  his  mind  reverted  to  the  titanic  struggle 
through  which  he  had  passed.     He  fought  over  again 


286  THE  LITE  AND  SPEECHES 

the  great  battles  of  that  awful  conflict,  and  as  he  stood 
in  imagination  before  the  serried  ranks  of  the  enemy  he 
cried  out  to  his  aide:  "Tell  Hill  he  must  come  up." 

We  are  fighting  to-day  a  more  terrific  battle  with  the 
forces  of  ignorance  than  he  was  fighting  then.  If  I  had 
the  right  to  use  the  great  words  of  this  mighty  man  I 
should  call  out  to-night  and  say:  "President  Alderman, 
President  Mclver,  President  Mell,  Chancellor  Kirk- 
land,  Chancellor  Hill,  President  Thatch,  President  Ful- 
ton, President  Boyd,  President  Taliaferro,  President 
Prather,  President  Jesse,  'you  must  come  up.'  Bring 
all  your  corps  of  truth  and  light  and  power.  Open 
your  batteries,  for  the  conflict  is  now  on  with  the  enemy. 
The  powers  of  ignorance  and  darkness  are  arrayed 
against  us,  and  the  fight  must  be  to  a  finish.  'Tell  Hill 
he  must  come  up. ' " 


CHAPTER  VIII 

AYCOCK  ON   THE  HUSTINGS 
(A  Typical  Campaign  Stump  Speech,  1910.) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

WHEN  I  was  in  this  county  in  1900,  ten  years 
ago,  I  spoke  on  the  Constitutional  Amendment 
then  pending  before  the  people,  and  I  made 
certain  predictions  as  to  what  would  be  the  outcome  if 
the  people  chose  to  adopt  that  Amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution and  set  free  the  white  men  of  North  Carolina. 
I  told  you  if  that  Amendment  were  adopted  that  we 
should  live  to  see  the  day  when  North  Carolina  instead 
of  being  at  the  foot  of  the  educational  roll  would 
proudly  take  her  stand  up  toward  the  top  of  the  column; 
and  with  education  I  told  you  would  come  better  con- 
dition of  farming;  a  better  condition  of  manufacturing; 
a  better  commercial  condition;  a  better  banking  con- 
dition. With  your  good  schools  would  come  good 
roads,  I  said,  and  we  should  go  forward  at  such  a  pace 
that  no  other  State  in  the  American  Union  could  keep 
step  with  us. 

My  Republican  friends  thought  then  that  I  was 
predicting  things  that  were  impossible  of  fulfilment. 
They  denied  my  prophecies.  They  went  so  far  as  to 
say  that  if  we  adopted  the  Amendment  we  would  dis- 

287 


288  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

franchise  the  white  men  of  North  Carolina,  and  they 
fooled  themselves  and  a  good  many  other  white  men 
into  the  belief  that  the  Amendment  was  fraught  with 
danger  notwithstanding  which  the  great,  strong,  sturdy 
white  men  of  this  State,  backed  as  they  were  by  the 
pure  and  noble  womanhood,  rolled  up  50,000  majority 
for  the  Amendment.  (Cheers.)  And  every  word  that 
I  predicted  then  is  history  to-day. 

There  is  not  a  man  in  North  Carolina  to-day,  be  he 
Democrat  or  Republican,  who  is  not  proud  of  the  prog- 
ress which  has  been  made  by  North  Carolina  since 
1900.  We  have  been  building  a  schoolhouse  every  day 
during  the  year,  including  Sundays.  We  are  spending 
to-day  three  times  as  much  money  on  the  education  of 
the  children  of  North  Carolina  as  we  were  spending  the 
day  I  was  inaugurated  Governor.  We  are  spending 
three  times  as  much  money  for  the  support  and  main- 
tenance of  the  old  Confederate  soldier  —  God  bless 
him  —  as  we  were  spending  the  day  I  was  inaugurated 
Governor  of  North  Carolina.  (Cheers.)  We  are  spend- 
ing nearly  three  times  as  much  for  the  insane  of  the 
State  as  we  were  spending  then.  And  we  have  got 
three  times  as  much  money  in  the  banks  of  North  Caro- 
lina as  we  had  the  day  I  was  inaugurated  Governor. 

And  is  it  not  a  fine  thing,  my  countrymen,  that  as  we 
spend,  we  gain? 

There  be  people  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  who  think 
that  if  you  could  kill  the  old,  destroy  the  helpless, 
make  way  with  the  weaklings,  that  we  should  prosper 
and  grow;  that  we  would  become  a  mighty  and  a  great 
people;  majestic  in  stature;  fine  in  intellect;  high  in 
morals.     But  the  men  who  think  that,   leave  God 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  289 

Almighty  out  of  the  equation  of  human  life,  and  it 
always  happens  that  that  people  thrives  most  who  does 
the  most  for  the  child,  and  the  most  for  the  old  and  the 
infirm.  We  have  prospered  in  exact  proportion  as  we 
have  kept  faith  with  God  in  caring  for  the  afflicted. 

It  is  a  fine  thing  to  be  a  Democrat  and  belong  to  a 
party  that  can  bring  about  this  condition  of  affairs  in 
charity,  in  industry,  in  education.  But  we  are  not 
spending  a  cent  to  run  the  penitentiary,  and  therein  lies 
the  difference  between  us  and  the  Republicans.  We 
spend  our  money  to  run  schools,  and  make  the  peniten- 
tiary contribute  to  them;  and  they  spent  their  money 
to  run  the  penitentiary  and  make  the  schools  con- 
tribute to  that.  That  is  the  truth.  The  Republican 
administration  did  not  have  charge  of  the  penitentiary 
but  two  years,  because  the  Democrats  got  the  Legis- 
lature in  1899  and  elected  a  Democratic  board  of 
directors,  but  during  their  two  years  the  Republicans 
managed  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  time,  when  I  came 
into  office,  it  took  $227,000  of  the  people's  money  to 
square  accounts  with  the  penitentiary.  During  the 
four  years  I  was  in  office  we  turned  $155,000  profits 
from  it  into  the  treasury  of  North  Carolina,  after  pay- 
ing all  expenses.  And  here  is  the  difference  between  a 
Democrat  and  a  Republican.  When  Governor  Glenn 
came  into  office,  he  turned  in  more  than  I  did,  and 
Governor  Kitchin  is  going  to  turn  in  more  than  both  of 
us  did.  Democrats  progress  upward.  We  will  get  to 
Heaven  after  a  while.  You  Republicans  progress 
downward.     I  don't  know  where  you  will  go  to. 

Now,  I  take  it,  my  countrymen,  that  whether  we 
be  Democrats  or  Republicans,  that  we  all  want  good 


290  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

government,  and  that  all  this  assembling  of  the  people, 
this  gathering  in  the  public  places,  this  meeting  in  your 
primaries,  this  holding  conventions,  this  leaving  your 
farms  and  your  banks  and  your  stores  and  your  manu- 
facturing plants  —  all  of  it  is  designed  for  the  good  of 
the  country.  What  are  we  in  politics  for?  Is  it 
personal  ambition?  Is  it  the  desire  to  hold  office? 
Is  it  the  desire  to  be  honored  and  glorified  of  men? 
That  may  be  so  with  a  few,  but  in  all  this  great  crowd 
that  is  assembled  here  to-day  there  are  very  few  of  you 
that  ever  held  office  or  ever  will.  What  are  you  here 
for?  Why  do  you  give  up  your  time,  your  thought, 
your  study,  your  work,  in  order  to  devote  yourself  to 
politics?  It  is  that  you  may  secure  good  government 
and  equal  opportunity  for  all  the  people.  I  believe 
there  are  few  men  in  any  of  the  parties,  few  among  the 
masses  of  the  people,  who  have  any  other  hope  or  aspi- 
ration in  their  political  strife  than  the  building  up  of  the 
State  in  which  they  live,  so  that  they  may  have  good 
homes  for  their  wives  and  children  and  good  schools  for 
the  children  to  go  to,  and  to  give  to  each  man  an  oppor- 
tunity in  life. 

WHY  GOVERNMENT  MUST  BE  KEPT  CLOSE  TO  THE  PEOPLE 

That  is  my  view  of  the  Democratic  party.  Our 
Republican  friends  have  been  for  some  years  asking 
scornfully,  "What  is  a  Democrat?"  I  can  tell  you 
what  a  Democrat  is.  Some  Democratic  speaker  a  short 
time  ago  said  that  a  Democrat  is  a  man  who  votes  the 
Democratic  ticket.  That  is  the  proof  of  faith  that  is  in 
him,  but  that  is  not  the  faith  itself. 

A  Democrat  is  a  man  who  believes  that  our  national 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  291 

Government  has  the  powers  which  were  granted  to  it  in 
the  Constitution  and  none  other.  A  Democrat  is  a  man 
who  believes  that  the  powers  not  granted  to  the  national 
Government  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
are  reserved  to  the  people  or  to  the  States.  A  Demo- 
crat is  a  man  who  believes  that  the  power  of  taxation  is 
the  power  to  destroy,  and  that  this  power  was  never 
vested  in  any  Government  by  a  free  people  except  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  Government  economically 
administered.  A  Democrat  is  a  man  who  believes  in 
the  individual  and  thinks  that  his  rights  ought  not  to  be 
restricted  in  any  respect  save  only  so  far  as  is  essential 
to  the  peace  and  progress  of  his  neighbors.  A  Demo- 
crat believes  in  order  to  be  responsive  to  the  quick 
demands  of  the  people  the  Government  should  be  as 
close  to  the  people  as  it  is  possible  to  bring  it.  A 
Democrat  believes  that  when  you  have  centralized  your 
Government  and  made  it  strong  and  put  it  far  away 
from  the  people,  that  the  great  mass  of  the  people  can't 
put  their  hands  upon  that  Government  and  enforce  the 
will  of  the  multitude. 

Let  us  consider  these  last  propositions  a  little  further. 
Always,  everywhere  under  the  sun,  in  all  times,  it  has 
been  the  truth  that  the  strong,  the  rich,  the  powerful, 
were  closer  to  government  than  the  weak.  Isn't  that 
true?  Take  the  national  Government  at  Washington 
which  has  to  do  with  the  relations  of  men  in  the  States, 
has  to  do  with  your  business  affairs,  with  all  the  inti- 
mate affairs  out  of  which  grow  your  business,  your 
farming,  your  manufacturing,  everything  that  goes  to 
make  up  life  —  can  you  touch  it?  Can  you  reach  it? 
It  is  the  men  who  are  closer  to  it  than  you  that  can 


292  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

reach  it.  Our  State  Government  itself  differs  in  this 
respect.  I  believe  on  the  day  that  I  took  the  oath  of 
Governor  of  North  Carolina  that  I  had  as  earnest  a 
desire  in  my  soul  to  serve  every  humble  citizen  of  North 
Carolina  as  I  did  to  serve  the  strongest  and  the  richest 
and  the  most  powerful.  But  who  was  it  that  came  to 
Raleigh  to  see  me?  There  is  not  a  man  in  this  audience 
that  I  should  not  have  been  glad  to  see,  and  who  would 
not  have  been  welcome  in  the  Governor's  office.  But 
who  came?  Was  it  the  plain,  simple  man?  No.  It 
was  the  strong,  the  educated,  the  powerful,  the  men  who 
travel,  the  men  who  go  about,  the  men  who  know  how 
to  do  things,  and  do  not  feel  embarrassed  in  doing  them. 
They  were  the  men  that  came  and  told  me  what  they 
wanted.  The  simple,  plain  men  who  were  building  up 
North  Carolina  behind  the  plow  and  in  the  manufac- 
turing plant,  in  the  forge,  and  in  the  mine  and  in  the 
forest  —  they  did  not  come.  They  did  not  have  time 
to  come,  and  if  they  had  had  time  to  come  they  would 
have  felt  some  degree  of  embarrassment  in  coming  and 
saying  what  they  wanted. 

So  you  see,  my  countrymen,  if  you  want  good  govern- 
ment you  must  have  government  that  is  right  close  to 
you,  so  that  when  the  shoe  pinches  you  can  come  to  the 
shoemaker  and  say,  "  This  is  not  a  good  fit,  and  I  want 
a  better  shoe. "  Therefore,  a  Democrat  is  a  man  who 
believes  that  the  government  that  shapes  our  daily 
lives  and  the  things  that  enter  into  it  should  be  a 
government  that  is  close  to  the  people.  Therefore  he 
believes  in  the  preservation  of  the  rights  of  the  people 
and  in  withholding  from  the  general  government  any 
power  that  is  not  nominated  in  the  bond,  the  Consti- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  293 

tution  of  the  United  States.  We  believe  in  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  United  States  in  all  matters  entrusted  to 
it  by  the  Constitution,  but  outside  of  the  matters  en- 
trusted to  it  by  the  Constitution,  we  insist  that  every 
one  of  them  belongs  to  the  people  and  to  the  States. 

TAXATION   THE  MOST   INTERESTING   SUBJECT   ON  EARTH 

And  now  in  the  next  place  I  wish  to  apply  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Democratic  party  to  the  most  interesting 
thing  on  earth,  and  that  is  taxation.  Of  course,  I  am 
omitting  women  and  children.  Next  to  them  comes 
taxation.  There  never  has  been  a  battle  fought  or  won, 
in  behalf  of  the  liberties  of  the  people  under  the  sun, 
that  has  not  been  fought  around  this  question  of  tax. 
Our  own  liberty  was  gained  on  the  question  of  taxation. 
Our  people  feel  that  now.  It  has  been  said  of  North 
Carolinians  that  they  are  the  hardest  people  on  earth  to 
get  to  vote  a  tax.  I  like  for  a  man  to  sit  down  and  say, 
"I  will  not  vote  a  tax  until  I  hear  from  you  on  it.  I 
know  nothing  can  hurt  me  except  by  means  of  the  tax- 
ing power.  The  Government  cannot  offend  me  unless 
it  raises  taxes.  It  cannot  employ  police,  it  cannot 
employ  judges,  without  money.  We  cannot  have 
governors  or  presidents  without  money,  and  it  cannot 
oppress  without  money."  All  the  oppression  any 
government  has  ever  done  on  the  face  of  the  earth  has 
been  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  it  has  had  controlling 
power  to  raise  money  for  its  own  purposes.  It  is  right 
that  our  people  are  now  and  always  have  been  touch- 
ous  on  this  subject.  I  never  made  a  speech  in  behalf 
of  the  tax  for  school  in  my  life  that  I  didn't  congratu- 
late the  people  on  their  attitude  of  opposition  to  taxa- 


294  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

tion,  and  always  told  them  that  they  ought  not  to  vote 
for  the  tax  until  their  reason  was  convinced  that  the 
tax  was  to  be  used  for  enlarging  liberty,  for  enlightening 
the  mind,  instead  of  for  strengthening  the  Government. 
That  is  the  test. 

And  now  let  us  see  about  the  levying  of  taxes  by  the 
United  States  Government.  What  is  the  Democratic 
doctrine?  It  is  that  a  tariff  shall  be  levied  for  revenue 
only,  for  the  purpose  of  an  economical  administration 
of  the  national  Government.  And  what  is  the  Repub- 
lican doctrine?  The  Republican  doctrine  is  that  a 
tariff  shall  be  levied  for  protection  to  those  who  enter 
into  business;  that  there  shall  be  a  tariff  levied  which 
takes  account  of  the  differences  in  wages  in  the  United 
States  and  abroad  plus  a  reasonable  profit  to  the  manu- 
facturer. Now  I  lay  down  this  proposition:  If  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  undertakes  to  levy  a 
tariff,  not  for  revenue  but  for  protection,  it  undertakes 
to  legislate  for  some  men  and  not  for  all  men,  and  when- 
ever any  government  undertakes  to  legislate  for  some 
man  and  not  for  all  men,  then  you  are  beginning  to  have 
class  government;  and  whenever  you  have  class  govern- 
ment and  say  to  any  set  of  men:  "I  am  legislating  for 
you  and  my  legislation  is  going  to  affect  your  business; 
my  legislation  is  going  to  make  you  rich,"  don't  you  see 
that  these  men  whose  interests  are  to  be  affected  are 
going  to  crowd  the  halls  of  legislation?  Why  shouldn't 
they?  You  are  legislating  for  them.  Instead  of  the 
people  writing  the  tax  laws,  they  are  written  by  the  few 
men  who  want  to  use  them. 

Is  that  right?  Let  us  see.  If  the  Government  can 
make  me  rich  or  make  me  poor,  then  when  the  Govern- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  295 

ment  is  dealing  with  that  question  I  must  be  up  there 
and  attend  to  my  business.  You  elect  a  Congressman 
to  Congress.  He  goes  up  there  and  his  theory  is  that 
he  has  a  right  to  use  the  taxing  power  to  enrich  me. 
You  stay  at  home  and  work.  I  go  up  there  and  see 
him;  stay  with  him;  eat  with  him;  drink  with  him;  talk 
with  him;  send  bouquets  and  put  them  on  his  desk,  and 
teach  him  the  effects  and  advantages  of  my  industry, 
and  get  him  to  put  a  high  price  on  my  industry  and  run 
my  price  up  accordingly  and  get  rich,  and  you  foot  the 
bill. 

When  that  Congressman  comes  around  for  renomi- 
nation  and  reelection,  what  do  I  do?  Do  you  reckon  I 
am  going  to  sit  still  and  let  another  fellow  beat  him? 
The  other  man  might  not  do  what  I  wanted  him  to  do. 
But  this  fellow  has  made  me  rich;  he  is  my  Congress- 
man; he  wants  to  go  back.  I  have  made  a  million  dol- 
lars by  what  he  has  done.  I  lay  $10,000  on  his  table, 
and  say  to  him,  "My  friend,  take  this;  go  again."  That 
is  the  way  we  have  been  electing  Congressmen,  and  we 
will  continue  to  do  so  as  long  as  it  is  held  that  they  can 
legislate  in  behalf  of  the  few. 

The  Democrat  says  that  you  must  levy  your  tax  for 
revenue  only.  That  reaches  everybody  and  dodges  no 
special  interest,  enriches  nobody  and  makes  nobody 
poor.  We  send  our  Congressmen  up  there,  and  they 
get  together  and  study  the  problem  as  best  they  can, 
and  they  levy  that  tax  and  it  works  equally  for  all  peo- 
ple. Does  anybody  raise  $10,000  for  such  a  man? 
Not  at  all.  He  has  done  his  duty  by  everybody. 
Nobody  is  going  out  and  buy  votes  for  him,  and  corrupt 
the  constituency  in  his  behalf,  and  he  has  to  go  back  to 


296  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Congress  on  his  merits,  and  not  by  reason  of  buying  his 
way  in. 

EFFECT  OF  PROTECTION  ON  INDUSTRY 

By  means  of  this  protective  tariff  what  has  hap- 
pened? You  can  build  up  an  industry  by  it.  I  have 
never  disputed  that  proposition  anywhere.  We  could 
grow  tea  in  South  Carolina,  by  the  operation  of  the 
protective  tariff,  Senator  Tillman  says.  If  you  will 
make  it  high  enough  you  can  grow  it  in  South  Carolina 
and  make  some  people  rich.  You  can  build  up  a  spe- 
cial industry.  Don't  you  see  when  they  put  on  that 
high  tax,  and  exclude  foreign  competition,  the  manu- 
facturer starts  up?  One  man  starts  with  a  capital  of 
$100,000.  He  hurries  up  his  plant.  He  has  a  large 
market  and  it  is  exclusive.  The  tariff  has  shut  out  all 
foreign  competition.  He  goes  to  work  and  gets  his 
goods  on  the  market  and  sells  them  nearly  as  high  as  the 
tariff  will  allow  him.  He  coins  money,  and  gets  rich 
fast.  The  next  man  sees  this,  and  says,  "  If  A.  is  making 
money  that  way,  I  can,  too."  He  builds  a  $250,000 
factory  and  gets  rich,  too.  Then  C.  comes  in  and  builds 
a  factory  for  $1,000,000,  and  the  prices  go  a  little  lower. 
And  so  they  keep  on  until  they  have  twenty-five  or 
twenty-six  plants  throughout  the  United  States,  supply- 
ing the  needs  of  the  American  people,  and  they  have 
brought  the  prices  down  as  low  as  the  foreign  market. 
We  are  reveling  in  low  prices  for  these  manufactured 
goods. 

Finally  the  smartest  one  of  these  fellows  drops  a 
letter  to  the  others.     He  says : 

"  My  dear  Sir:     You  and  I  are  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  business. 
For  the  past  few  years  we  have  not  been  making  much  profit.     In 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  297 

the  beginning  we  made  a  great  deal  of  money,  but  for  the  last  few 
years,  by  reason  of  competition  with  one  another,  it  is  getting  almost 
impossible  for  us  to  make  a  living.  It  is  folly  for  us  to  waste  our 
lives  in  this  mad  struggle  of  competition.  I  am  going  to  be  at  the 
Waldorf-Astoria  next  Thursday  at  3  o'clock  p.  m.,  where  I  hope  to 
see  you  and  have  a  little  conference." 

He  sends  that  to  the  others,  and  the  next  Thursday 
the  whole  push  is  there.  They  eat  a  little,  and  drink  a 
little,  and  smoke  a  great  deal,  and  finally  the  same  fel- 
low says:  "Boys,  this  is  all  foolishness;  we  are  cutting 
each  other's  throats.  We  have  the  American  market 
and  there  is  no  sense  in  barely  making  a  living.  We 
used  to  make  big  money,  and  can  do  it  again.  I  want 
us  to  form  what  is  known  as  a  trust;  that  is  to  say,  I 
want  us  to  form  one  great  big  corporation.  You  take 
stock  in  this  corporation  to  the  extent  of  the  value  of 
your  plant,  and  I  will  take  stock  to  the  value  of  my 
plant,  and  so  on  around,  and  we  will  have  it  all  in  one 
company.  We  won't  have  but  one  president,  one 
superintendent,  two  or  three  drummers,  and  we  will 
discharge  all  the  rest  of  them  and  centralize  these 
plants  and  the  management,  and  produce  our  product 
cheaper  and  earn  a  bigger  dividend,  and  not  only  put 
our  plants  in  at  the  valuation  they  are  now  worth,  but 
we  will  double  the  amount  of  stock  and  give  each  one 
twice  what  his  plant  is  worth  and  still  make  a  divi- 
dend." 

That  looks  good  to  all  of  them  except  one  fellow  born 
a  hard-shell  Baptist  Democrat.  They  are  all  like 
iPaul  —  "None  of  these  things  move  me."  He  says,  "I 
have  been  an  independent  manufacturer  and  am  going 
to  remain  one  still."  They  say,  "All  right,  Bill. 
Good-bye."     Bill  goes  down  home  and  goes  to  work 


298  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

and  overhauls  his  plant  and  oils  it  up  and  gets  all  the 
rust  out  of  it  and  makes  it  run  as  smoothly  as  possible. 
He  begins  to  economize  because  he  knows  there  is  a 
good  fight  on.  The  other  twenty -five  form  their  com- 
bination and  put  out  their  goods,  and  offer  them  on  the 
market  a  little  higher  than  before  and  Bill  sells  at  the 
old  price,  so  they  cannot  get  much  rise  on  them  because 
Bill  is  offering  his  goods  to  the  jobbers  a  little  cheaper 
than  theirs.  Finally,  they  send  a  fellow  down  in  Bill's 
neighborhood,  and  every  time  Bill  tries  to  go  up  a 
little,  they  go  down.  They  tell  their  representative, 
"  Every  time  Bill  goes  down  on  those  goods,  you  go  two 
better. "  Bill  goes  down  five  points,  and  they  go  down 
fifteen.  Bill  goes  down  five  more,  and  they  go  down 
fifteen. 

It  is  beginning  to  wear  on  Bill.  He  is  turning  gray 
and  getting  pale.  He  has  been  a  tactful,  pleasant- 
faced  fellow,  and  he  used  to  go  home  in  the  afternoon 
and  take  his  wife  and  children  to  ride  in  the  automo- 
bile, or  better,  in  the  old-fashioned  buggy.  Now  he 
does  not  get  home  until  dark,  and  there  is  a  scowl  on  his 
face.  Mary  meets  him  at  the  door  and  says,  "  William, 
what  is  the  matter?"  He  scowls  and  says,  "Nothing 
the  matter  with  me."  The  trust  had  just  gone  down 
fifteen  points  the  day  before  and  he  knows  five  points 
more  will  bankrupt  him.  He  goes  to  bed  and  dreams 
dreams,  and  sees  visions,  and  his  visions  of  the  devil  are 
the  most  real.  He  gets  up  unrefreshed  and  a  cold  bath 
fails  to  put  him  in  good  humor.  The  morning  is  a 
bright,  glorious,  sunshiny  morning,  and  there  is  a  crisp- 
ness  in  the  air.  Nothing  appeals  to  Bill.  Bankruptcy 
is  before  him.     From  being  wealthy,  he  is  about  to 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  299 

descend  to  poverty.  From  having  his  family  have 
everything  they  want,  they  are  about  to  descend  to 
want. 

He  finds  a  representative  of  the  trust  in  his  office. 
"Good  morning,  how  are  you  feeling,  Bill?"  "Don't 
feel  much.  How  are  you?"  "I  am  feeling  fine.  Now, 
Bill,  there  is  no  use  in  this  foolishness.  Come  to  terms. 
While  we  are  in  the  humor,  you  had  better  get  out. 
We  don't  want  to  hurt  anybody.  We  are  good  folks. 
You  have  $100,000  in  your  plant.  We  will  give  you 
$100,000  stock  in  our  concern,  and  a  $50,000  check  on 
top  of  it. " 

Bill  had  had  visions  of  bankruptcy,  and  his  wife 
wants  a  new  automobile,  and  his  children  want  to  go  to 
college.  He  is  mad,  but  he  reaches  over  and  says: 
"Make  out  your  papers,"  and  he  makes  his  deed,  and 
gets  his  $100,000  in  stock,  and  he  sticks  that  check  for 
$50,000  into  his  pocket  and  walks  around  town,  with  a 
stoop  in  his  shoulders  and  a  scowl  on  his  face,  but  there 
is  a  smile  lurking  around  the  corner  of  his  eye.  He 
banks  that  check,  and  in  a  week's  time  Bill  is  beginning 
to  smile  again,  and  in  a  month's  time  he  is  driving  out 
with  his  family.  The  world  looks  good  to  him.  He 
votes  with  the  Democrats  for  a  while  against  the  trusts, 
but  he  is  softening.  At  the  end  of  the  quarter  Bill  gets 
a  10  per  cent,  dividend  on  that  $100,000  stock,  and  he 
sticks  that  $10,000  into  his  pocket  and  he  steps  about 
three  feet  at  every  step  now.  He  is  still  mad  but  he  will 
vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  provided  the  fellow  on  the 
ticket  is  a  good  man. 

Another  quarter  rolls  around  and  another  $10,000 
check  comes  in.     Well,  sir,  there  ain't  hardly  room  on 


300  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

the  sidewalk  for  Bill.  His  thumbs  have  found  the  arm- 
holes  of  his  vest.  "  I  am  a  Democrat,  but  I  tell  you  this 
Democratic  party  is  getting  mighty  silly,  putting  out  a 
heap  of  fool-f angled  notions.  Better  let  the  business 
men  run  it.  I  will  vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  but  I 
am  getting  mighty  tired  of  them  calling  on  me  to  vote 
for  the  kind  of  men  I  have  been  voting  for,  and  I  am  not 
going  to  do  it  any  more. " 

Another  quarter  rolls  around  and  then  at  the  end  of 
the  year  they  send  Bill  a  stock  dividend  of  25  per  cent. 
He  says,  "  I  am  getting  tired  of  this  whole  business  any- 
how. I  have  long  thought  those  Democrats  had  too 
many  fool  things  in  their  heads.  I  believe  I  will  vote 
for  Taft  this  fall."  Just  as  soon  as  the  Republicans 
hear  tell  of  that,  they  elect  him  chairman  and  at  that 
instant  they  become  respectable. 

Oh !  my  countrymen !  this  is  no  fancy  picture.  It  is 
the  everlasting  truth  of  history  as  it  has  been  written 
in  the  United  States  for  the  past  twenty  years  and  is 
being  written  to-day.  It  is  the  history  of  the  United 
States  as  it  must  needs  be  written  and  always  will  be 
written  as  long  as  the  doctrine  prevails  that  the  power 
rests  in  the  Government  to  levy  taxation  for  any  pur- 
pose other  than  the  administration  of  the  Government. 
You  may  take  every  other  plank  out  of  the  Democratic 
platform,  but  I  will  not  submit  to  putting  power  into  the 
hands  of  anybody  to  tax  me  poor  and  to  tax  you  rich. 

INTERESTS  OF  LABOR  AND  AGRICULTURE  ALIKE  DEMAND 
TARIFF   FOR   REVENUE    ONLY 

Nor  can  any  man  deceive  me  into  believing  that 
the  scheme  was  gotten  up  in  behalf  of  labor.     I  am  a 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  301 

believer  in  high  wages,  but  I  know  that  no  business  can 
exist  for  any  length  of  time,  or  ever  has  or  ever  will  exist 
for  any  length  of  time,  where  people  pay  any  more  for 
wages  than  labor  earns.  And  if  the  American  laborer 
gets  higher  wages  than  he  gets  elsewhere  it  is  simply 
because  he  earns  more  wages  than  he  does  elsewhere. 
I  forget  the  name  of  the  book  and  also  of  the  author, 
but  he  was  an  English  lord  who  built  railroads  through- 
out the  world,  and  he  wrote  an  admirable  book  on  the 
relation  of  wages  to  production.  In  that  book  he  says 
that  Australia  pays  the  highest  wages  in  the  world,  and 
the  men,  man  by  man,  do  the  most  work  of  any  laborers 
in  the  world,  and  that  America  pays  the  next  highest 
wages,  and  that  Americans,  man  by  man,  do  the  next 
greatest  amount  of  work  that  is  done  in  the  world. 
It  was  Mills  and  Carlisle,  who  demonstrated  in  the 
debates  twenty  years  ago,  that  labor  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  making  of  this  protective  tariff  and  had  no 
interest  in  it.  They  demonstrated  that,  while  the 
American  shoemaker  gets  twice  as  high  wages  as  the 
English  shoemaker,  he  makes  three  times  as  many 
shoes;  so  that  the  labor  cost  in  a  pair  of  American 
shoes  is  only  two  thirds  the  cost  of  the  labor  in  a  pair  of 
English  shoes.  All  that  American  labor  wants  is  a  fair 
field,  and  no  favors  anywhere.  They  will  work  out 
their  destiny  everywhere. 

Your  Republican  orator  is  going  around  seeking  to 
delude  people  into  voting  themselves  rich  by  taxing 
themselves.  Don't  you  know  that  building  up  a  fac- 
tory suddenly  and  quickly  and  making  it  make  enor- 
mous profits  brings  about  quick  riches  for  a  few? 
And  riches  bring  about  luxury,  and  luxury  brings  about 


302  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

vice  and  debauchery,  and  divorce  and  remarriage  and 
shame  throughout  the  land.  The  other  policy  brings 
about  steady  development  through  agriculture,  manu- 
facturing, railroading  and  banking  for  all  the  people. 
Good  profits  but  not  extravagant  profits.  Safe,  but  not 
speculative.  What  do  safe  profits  do?  Build  charac- 
ter and  make  men.  Your  man  whose  business  grows 
this  way  is  steady  to-day,  to-morrow,  and  next  day,  and 
when  he  comes  to  old  age  he  is  that  picture  of  serenity 
and  honor  spoken  of  by  Solomon,  when  he  says,  "that  a 
hoary  head  is  a  crown  of  glory, "  if  found  in  the  way  of 
honor.  With  the  other  plan  we  make  a  millionaire,  but 
destroy  a  man,  and  where  we  make  one  millionaire,  we 
make  a  thousand  paupers.  The  land  that  is  most 
blessed  is  the  land  that  has  plenty  and  prosperity,  that 
has  neither  riches  nor  poverty  in  the  extreme.  That  is 
the  land  of  peace  and  quietness  and  the  land  where  God 
dwells. 

The  tariff  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  price  of  your 
cotton.  Why?  Because  you  export  cotton.  You  do 
not  import  cotton.  The  tariff  does  not  raise  the  price 
of  your  cotton  nor  the  price  of  your  wheat.  We  export 
it  and  do  not  import  it.  Although  they  have  a  pre- 
tended tariff,  it  does  not  benefit  or  hurt  anybody.  The 
tariff  doesn't  affect  the  price  of  corn.  We  export  corn. 
They  have  a  tariff  on  corn.  They  are  making  out  like 
they  protect  the  farmer,  but  there  is  not  a  tariff  on  any- 
thing that  the  farmer  grows  that  protects  him  in  the 
least.  We  are  exporters  of  what  we  produce  on  our 
farms. 

Hear  me,  you  young  men,  and  put  this  down  in  your 
books,  and  when  I  am  dead  and  passed  away,  you  tell 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  303 

your  children  after  you  that  I  said  it.  That  is  all  the 
memory  I  want  of  North  Carolina.  They  have  a  tariff 
on  our  exports  now,  but  we  are  close  to  the  day  when  we 
are  going  to  cease  to  export  foodstuffs  —  when  we  will 
import  them.  Do  you  know  what  the  protective 
interests  will  do  then?  When  we  become  importers  of 
foodstuffs  that  tax  on  farm  products  is  coming  off. 
Why?  Because  the  dwellers  in  the  city  are  going  to 
be  clamoring  for  cheap  bread.  It  came  off  in  Great 
Britain. 

The  only  salvation  for  the  farmer  is  the  Democratic 
doctrine  of  tariff  for  revenue.  We  would  raise  the 
revenue  and  you  farmers  would  get  the  benefit.  When 
you  legislate  for  the  few,  you  benefit  the  few  to  the  ruin 
of  the  many  and  eventually  you  destroy  the  few.  You 
know  that  this  tariff  question  is  a  moral  question.  Men 
cannot  put  their  hands  into  their  neighbors'  pockets 
and  enrich  themselves  under  the  forms  of  law,  and 
remain  as  strongly  moral  as  when  they  worked  out  their 
own  livings  by  the  sweat  of  their  brows.  There  is 
power  in  the  doctrine  of  Democratic  righteousness  that 
nobody  has  a  right  to  take  your  money  except  for  the 
needs  of  the  Government. 

RECORD   OF   THE   TWO   PARTIES   IN   NORTH    CAROLINA 
STATE    GOVERNMENT 

And  now  let's  talk  about  North  Carolina's  political 
affairs.  In  1902  the  Republican  platform  denounced 
my  administration  for  extravagance  —  and  it  was  true 
that  I  spent  more  money  than  had  been  spent  by  any 
Governor  that  preceded  me.  But  what  did  I  spend  it 
for?     I  spent  it  in  order  that  I  might  open  the  school- 


304  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

house  door  to  every  child  in  North  Carolina;  that  I 
might  give  to  the  little  son  of  this  cotton-factory  laborer 
the  opportunity  to  learn  to  read  and  write;  that  I  might 
put  into  his  hand  the  key  of  knowledge  in  order  that  he 
might  win  the  Governorship  of  North  Carolina  or  the 
Presidency  of  the  United  States.  I  said  to  my  critics, 
"  If  we  have  spent  it,  we  are  spending  it  to  make  easier 
the  way  of  those  dear  old  soldiers  to  the  grave;  those 
glorious  men  who  carried  farthest  when  the  battle 
raged  the  Southern  cross.  If  we  have  spent  it,  we  have 
spent  it  in  order  to  hush  the  wail  of  the  insane  as  they 
made  night  hideous  in  the  jails  of  North  Carolina.  If 
we  have  spent  it,  we  have  spent  it  to  unstop  the  deaf 
ear  of  little  children  and  bid  the  dumb  to  speak. " 

The  people  answered,  and  they  elected  the  Demo- 
crats; and  the  Republicans  met  in  1904  at  the  same 
place  and  adopted  another  platform,  and  they  de- 
nounced me  because  I  had  not  spent  more  money.  I 
actually  converted  the  Radicals  of  North  Carolina; 
blest  if  I  didn't.  Converted  the  Radicals  and  Fusion- 
ists!  Do  you  know  what  a  Fusionist  is?  When  I  was 
trying  to  find  out,  I  went  to  a  Baptist  Church,  where 
they  were  holding  a  revival  meeting.  They  had  worked 
up  considerable  interest,  and  after  the  preacher  had 
warmed  up  the  crowd,  he  said:  "My  friends,  I  want  all 
of  you  who  are  Christians  to  stand  up,"  and  most  of 
them  stood  up.  Most  of  the  people  in  the  Baptist 
Church  are  Christians.  I  am  one  myself;  that  is,  I  am 
a  Baptist.  After  he  looked  over  the  congregation  for  a 
while  he  said,  "Be  seated."  Then  he  said,  "All  who 
are  sinners,  stand  up,"  and  everybody  who  had  not 
stood  up  on  the  first  call  stood  up  except  one  man. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  305 

That  was  my  old  friend  John  R.  Smith  of  penitentiary- 
fame;  and  the  preacher  saw  him.  You  know  he  always 
does  see  you.  It  used  to  be  when  the  preacher  was 
preaching  about  my  particular  sin,  I  would  try  to  get 
him  to  look  at  somebody  else,  but  he  kept  his  eyes  on 
me.  So  he  spotted  John  R.  He  said  to  him,  "My 
friend,  I  notice  you  did  not  rise  on  either  call  —  are  you 
not  a  Christian  or  a  sinner? "  John  R.  spoke  up,  "No, 
neither.     I  am  a  Fusionist.     That  is  what  I  am. " 

Now  having  converted  you,  if  you  will  bring  forth 
fruit  meet  for  repentance,  I  will  take  you  into  the 
Democratic  church.  But  let  me  tell  you,  I  am  not 
going  to  take  you  into  the  Democratic  church  until  you 
can  tell  me  who  you  favor  for  associate  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  North  Carolina.  I'll  bet  there  isn't 
a  Radical  in  the  county  who  has  ever  heard  of  that  this 
year.  Why  not?  You  have  got  to  nominate  a  chief 
justice.  You  Radicals  didn't  know  that  you  had  any- 
thing to  do  but  to  elect  a  chairman.  That's  all  you 
want  —  a  "cheerman."  You  got  this  habit  of  electing 
a  "cheerman"  when  the  negro  was  in  business  and  you 
can't  get  over  it  to  save  your  lives.  All  you  want  is  to 
say,  "Mr.  Cheerman,  please  give  me  a  post-office." 
You  come  mighty  near  proving  what  President  Taft 
said  about  you  —  that  you  were  nothing  anyhow  except 
a  factional  strife  after  federal  offices.  I  did  not  say 
that  myself,  and  I  would  not.  I  never  did  say  anything 
that  mean  about  you  in  my  life.  You  live  amongst  us. 
Some  of  you  are  my  friends.  I  like  you,  and  I  have 
been  for  thirty  years  trying  to  save  you  from  damna- 
tion to  come. 

My  friends,  there  is  a  great  deal  more  in  this  little 


306  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

matter  of  the  Republican  chairmanship  fight  than  you 
think  for;  a  vast  deal  more.  You  never  heard  the 
Democratic  chairman  mentioned  in  all  these  spring  and 
summer  months  that  have  gone ;  you  never  saw  a  refer- 
ence to  it  in  the  papers.  Why  not?  Because  in  the 
Democratic  party  the  people  rule;  because  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party  it  doesn't  make  a  bit  of  difference  who  the 
chairman  is.  The  chairman  can't  run  me;  the  chair- 
man is  of  no  consequence  to  me.  He  is  of  no  conse- 
quence to  you.  All  he  is  for  is  to  call  the  meetings 
together;  all  he  is  for  is  to  get  the  speakers  and  send 
them  out  in  the  campaign  and  to  manage  the  cam- 
paign. He  doesn't  tell  us  who  to  nominate  for  office; 
if  he  did,  we  would  nominate  the  other  fellow  or  die. 
That's  what  we  would  do.  But  when  you  Republicans 
make  your  fight  you  have  not  fought  over  the  associate 
justiceship;  you  have  not  fought  over  filling  these  high 
offices.  You  don't  know  whom  you  are  going  to  sup- 
port for  associate  justice.  The  reason  of  it  is  that  your 
party  is  a  one-man  party.  It  is  because  you  are  used  to 
obeying  orders;  it  is  because  the  men  in  authority  and 
the  men  in  place  dominate  your  party,  and  you  have 
not  liberty  of  expression;  you  have  not  the  power  of 
dominating  your  own  primaries  and  naming  your  own 
men  and  thinking  your  own  thoughts  and  doing  your 
own  deeds;  and  therein  hangs  all  the  difference  between 
a  free  people  and  people  who  are  tending  toward 
slavery.  You  want  to  be  a  Democrat,  therefore,  in 
order  that  every  man  may  have  an  absolutely  free 
expression  of  his  will.  And  when  we  have  it,  we  are  not 
always  going  to  get  what  we  want.  I  have  been  there 
myself.     I  have  been  for  certain  men  for  office  and  they 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  307 

have  been  beaten.  Bless  your  life,  I  was  for  a  man  for 
Governor  two  years  ago  and  he  got  beat.  I  stayed  with 
him  a  whole  week,  but  he  got  beat.  Men  on  the  other 
side  said  I  was  trying  to  force  his  nomination  because  I 
had  been  Governor  and  everybody  loved  me,  and  I 
believe  everybody  did  love  me,  but  as  soon  as  they  got 
that  report  they  went  and  voted  for  the  other  man  just 
to  show  that  I  couldn't  run  them. 

My  countrymen,  there  is  a  difference  between  a 
Democrat  and  a  Republican.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
respectability  and  non-respectability.  There  are  re- 
spectable Democrats  and  respectable  Republicans;  and 
disreputable  Republicans  and  disreputable  Democrats. 
It  is  a  question  as  to  whether  we  shall  have  equal  rights 
for  all  the  people,  or  special  privileges  for  some,  whether 
we  shall  have  decent  government  under  which  your 
children  shall  prosper,  or  whether  we  shall  have  such  a 
government  as  will  again  set  our  people  by  the  ears,  and 
compel  them  to  resort  to  weapons  and  physical  man- 
hood, and  to  maintain  law  and  peace  and  order  by 
physical  prowess  and  courageous  hearts. 

We  now  have  law  and  peace  and  order  in  the  State. 
Let  us  continue  it.  We  have  the  best  State  individu- 
ally of  any  State  in  the  Union.  We  have  the  cheapest 
State  government  in  North  Carolina  of  any  State  in  the 
American  Union.  We  have  the  best  administration  of 
justice  of  any  State  in  the  American  Union.  We  have 
the  cheapest  administration  of  justice  of  any  State  in 
the  American  Union.  We  are  making  more  progress, 
and  have  made  more  in  the  past  ten  years,  under  Demo- 
cratic rule  than  any  other  State  in  the  American  Union. 
And  the  time  is  shortly  before  us  when  we  shall  take  our 


S08  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

stand  in  the  forefront  of  the  States  of  the  Union. 
Strong,  educated,  virile,  we  have  the  bravest  men  and 
the  purest  women,  and  are  therefore  capable  of  accom- 
plishing more  than  men  less  brave  and  women  less  pure. 
Let  us  maintain  the  benefit  of  this  ancient  government 
bequeathed  to  us  by  our  forefathers,  and  may  God 
bless  you  every  one! 


CHAPTER  IX 

ROBERT    EDWARD   LEE 
(Address  Delivered  in  Raleigh  on  Lee's  Birthday,  January  19,  1912.) 
Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

WE  HAVE  met  to-night  to  do  honor  to  the 
memory  of  Gen.  Robert  Edward  Lee,  a  man 
whose  position  in  the  world  is  so  well  estab- 
lished, and  whose  fame  is  so  strongly  based  that 
nothing  which  we  can  do  or  say  will  add  to  his  glory. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  I  can  myself  but  count  it  a  high 
honor  to  be  deemed  worthy  to  be  permitted  to  talk 
about  him  to  an  intelligent  and  sympathetic  audience. 
Some  years  ago  there  was  unveiled  in  Richmond  a 
noble  equestrian  statue  of  General  Lee.  The  statue 
has  been  much  criticised,  but  there  is  one  thing  about  it 
which  always  strikes  every  observer  and  compels  the 
admiration  of  all  for  appropriateness  —  the  inscription 
on  it  is  one  word,  "Lee."  There  have  been  numerous 
Lees,  many  of  them  famous  —  Light  Horse  Harry  of 
Revolutionary  fame,  General  and  Governor  Fitzhugh 
Lee,  to  mention  but  two  who  were  well  worthy  of  mon- 
umental honors  —  and  yet  no  visitor  to  Richmond  from 
any  part  of  the  civilized  world  ever  asks  the  question, 
"To   whom   was   this   statue   erected?"     Everybody 

309 


310  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

knows.  There  is  but  one  Lee.  He  is  the  noblest,  the 
purest,  the  highest  possession  of  any  people. 

It  has  been  the  fortune  of  many  to  win  fame,  to  have 
their  deeds  recorded  in  history,  and  their  achievements 
taught  throughout  the  world  to  the  young  as  a  part  of 
their  education.  The  desire  to  attain  fame  is  a  large 
incentive  in  the  human  heart  for  great  action  and  high 
thought,  but  most  men  who  have  lived  and  who  have 
been  honored  in  story  and  in  song  and  in  history,  and 
whose  deeds  have  been  perpetuated  in  marble,  have 
been  those  who  won  final  victory.  It  is  the  unique 
glory  of  Robert  Edward  Lee  that,  having  failed  to 
conquer,  he  has  yet  achieved  a  distinction  beyond  his 
fellows. 

What  is  there  about  the  man  that  thus  selects  and 
differentiates  him  from  the  group  of  those  whom  men 
honor  as  great?  Why  is  it  that  every  Southerner  loves 
and  reveres  his  memory?  Why  is  it  that  the  victorious 
North  has  placed  him  in  the  Hall  of  Fame?  Why  is  it 
that  English  historians  and  army  officers  have  vied  with 
Southern  orators  in  panegyric?  Why  is  it  that  he  for 
more  than  forty  years  has  steadily  grown  in  the  esteem 
of  mankind  until  he  stands  to-day  the  least  criticised 
among  all  the  heroes  of  the  world,  modern  or  ancient? 
Why  is  it  that  all  mankind  acknowledge  the  wondrous 
power  and  charm  of  the  man  and  no  one  can  be  found  to 
find  fault  with  him?  I  think  the  reason  may  be  found 
not  alone  in  his  singular  "beauty  of  personality  and 
emphasis  of  presence,"  in  his  magnificent  intellect,  in 
his  perfect  life,  in  his  ideal  Christian  character,  in  his 
mastery  of  the  science  of  war,  but  in  that  older  fact 
which  first  finds  exemplification  in  the  life  of  Moses 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  311 

when,  returning  from  his  interview  with  the  Lord  on 
Mount  Sinai,  he  found  that  in  his  absence  the  children 
of  Israel  had  made  for  themselves  a  golden  calf  and  were 
worshipping  it,  and  he  lost  his  temper  and  broke  the 
stones  and  punished  his  people,  and  then  went  up  unto 
the  Lord  to  make  intercession  in  their  behalf,  and  said, 
"  O  Lord,  these  people  have  sinned  a  great  sin  and  have 
made  them  gods  of  gold,  yet  now  if  Thou  wilt,  forgive 
their  sin;  and  if  not,  I  pray  Thee  blot  me  out  of  Thy 
book." 

This  was  no  demagogy.  It  was  not  said  in  the 
presence  of  the  people.  It  was  said  by  the  creature  to 
his  Creator.  It  was  said  by  one  in  whose  face  there 
shone  the  light  which  emanated  from  the  Lord.  It  was 
said  by  one  who  had  seen  the  lightnings  and  heard  the 
thunders  of  Sinai.  It  was  said  unto  the  Almighty  God. 
"If  Thou  wilt  punish  my  people,  punish  me  also." 
From  the  days  of  Moses  to  the  days  of  Gen.  Robert 
Edward  Lee,  no  other  man  had  ever  done  so  fine  a 
thing;  for  Lee,  who  did  not  believe  in  secession,  who  was 
an  officer  in  the  United  States  Army  and  loved  the 
Union,  who  had  won  renown  on  the  fields  of  Mexico 
under  the  stars  and  stripes,  to  whom  had  been  offered 
the  highest  position  in  the  command  of  the  armies  of 
the  United  States,  to  whose  clear  vision  there  must 
have  appeared  the  certainty  of  the  final  outcome, 
calmly  said  to  the  Union,  "  If  you  will  punish  my  people, 
punish  me  also.     I  will  not  fight  against  Virginians." 

The  love  of  home,  of  family,  of  neighborhood,  of 
county,  of  State,  was  predominant  with  him.  The 
elemental  foundation  of  all  free  government  is  found  in 
this  vital  fact.     There  can  never  be  a  free  people  save 


312  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

those  who  love  and  serve  those  closest  to  them  first,  and 
those  farthest  away  afterward.  The  Gospel  must  be 
preached  to  all  the  world,  but  its  preaching  must  begin 
at  Jerusalem.  It  never  could  have  begun  anywhere 
else,  and  if  it  had,  it  never  would  have  gone  anywhere. 
General  Lee  was  a  home-lover.  He  was  a  Virginian 
first  and  an  American  afterward.  His  intellect  might 
be  convinced,  and  was  convinced,  that  under  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  the  Union  was  to  be  per- 
petual, and  to  use  his  own  language,  "  It  is  idle  to  talk  of 
secession,"  but  when  secession  became  a  fact  and  Vir- 
ginia had  gone  out  of  the  Union,  there  was  no  logic, 
there  was  no  power,  there  was  no  temptation,  there  was 
no  honor,  there  was  no  hope,  there  was  no  glory,  that 
could  for  one  moment  make  him  hesitate  about  drawing 
his  sword  on  the  side  of  Virginia. 

For  myself,  I  have  always  believed  in  the  right  of 
secession.  I  never  doubted  that  each  State  retained  to 
itself  the  power  to  withdraw  from  an  unbearable  Union, 
and  my  admiration  for  the  man  who  did  not  so  believe 
but  went  with  his  State  when  the  States  seceded  is 
intensified  by  my  own  conviction  of  the  lawfulness  of 
secession.  And  this  view  makes  the  war  between  the 
States  a  thing  which  should  give  pride  to  Southerners 
for  all  time.  It  was  not  a  fight  for  slavery.  When  men 
tell  me  that  the  South  fought  for  slavery,  I  answer 
them,  Gen.  Robert  Edward  Lee  freed  his  slaves  before 
the  war  and  left  important  military  duties  to  go  to  his 
home  in  order  to  carry  out  the  will  of  his  wife's  father 
in  setting  free  her  slaves.  Let  the  children  of  the 
South  learn  rather  that  the  fight  was  a  fight  for  local 
self-government,  without  which  in  all  its  fulness  and 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  313 

power  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  Union  of  coequal 
States.  It  is  the  old  doctrine  of  States'  Rights  —  a 
doctrine  which  belongs  to  no  section  and  is  monopo- 
lized by  no  party.  Indeed,  the  first  Republican  plat- 
form ever  adopted  was  based  on  an  idea  of  State  rights 
so  extreme  that  those  of  us  who  professed  most  strongly 
to  believe  in  them  refused  to  go  to  the  extent  demanded 
in  that  platform.  The  Republicans  justified  their 
refusal  to  return  runaway  slaves  on  the  right  of  a  State 
to  legislate  for  itself  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

There  is  another  great  fact  in  the  life  of  General  Lee 
which  makes  him  preeminent  in  all  his  career.  No  one 
ever  heard  of  his  putting  the  blame  of  failure  of  any 
enterprise  on  the  shoulders  of  any  one  else.  When  his 
wonderful  genius  had  planned  a  battle  and  assigned 
each  commander  his  duty,  if  the  battle  went  wrong 
through  the  failure  of  any  commander,  General  Lee 
never  gave  to  the  world  any  explanation  of  why  the 
battle  was  lost.  He  never  sought  for  a  single  instance 
to  aggrandize  his  own  glory  by  detracting  from  the 
service  of  any  other. 

Indeed,  I  may  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  he  never 
seemed  to  be  conscious  of  any  desire  for  the  commen- 
dation of  man.  His  whole  career  is  founded  on  the 
single  word,  "duty,"  which  he  himself  declared  to  be 
the  sublimest  word  in  the  English  language.  Having 
done  his  duty,  what  others  said,  what  others  thought, 
what  misinterpretations  might  be  made  to  his  own  hurt, 
seemed  never  to  concern  him,  but  he  was  always  anxious 
that  every  other  person  connected  with  his  enterprise 
should  have  full  praise  for  any  unusual  merit  exhibited 
by  him.     This  trait  of  character  approaches  the  fulfil- 


314  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

ment  of  the  law,  the  whole  law,  which  is  briefly  com- 
prehended in  this,  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 
Service  to  his  neighbors  was  always  his  life  work,  and 
when  the  war  was  ended,  we  find  him  calmly  and 
deliberately  refusing  the  acceptance  of  a  country  home 
in  England  with  an  ample  annuity;  declining  the  presi- 
dency of  a  great  insurance  company  with  a  large  salary; 
and  gratefully  accepting  the  meagre  salaried  presidency 
of  a  broken  college.  What  a  spectacle,  my  country- 
men, to  see  this  commander  of  the  greatest  army  that 
the  world  had  ever  seen,  patiently,  cheerfully,  gladly, 
supervising  the  education  of  a  few  hundred  boys !  He 
had  taught  the  South  the  mastery  of  war.  It  was  his 
highest  desire  thereafter  to  instil  into  the  youth  of  the 
land  a  love  of  peace  and  a  knowledge  of  the  ways  of 
industry.  We  cannot  honor  the  memory  of  a  man  like 
this.  We  can  only  ourselves  catch  a  few  rays  of  light 
from  the  sunshine  of  his  face. 

When  the  North  tells  me  that  General  Grant  was 
great,  I  admit  it,  and  gladly  join  in  praise  for  his  gra- 
ciousness  to  General  Lee;  but  then  I  add  that  if  he  was 
great,  he  had  his  faults,  personal  and  intimate,  not  to  be 
mentioned  in  public  because  of  the  greatness  of  his  ser- 
vice to  the  country.  But  General  Lee  was  great  with- 
out fault.  There  is  nothing  in  his  life  to  hide.  All  that 
we  want  is  for  the  world  to  know  him  as  he  was.  We 
should  like  for  every  child  in  the  universe  to  be  cogni- 
zant of  everything  he  did  and  said,  entirely  confident 
that  having  learned  every  movement  and  every  saying, 
the  child  would  arise  from  his  study  a  stronger,  a  better, 
a  purer  person,  and  with  a  higher  ideal  of  life.  Again, 
the  North  and  the  world  may  justly  make  a  hero  out  of 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  315 

Abraham  Lincoln  —  I  do  not  hesitate  to  recognize  and 
proclaim  the  essential  greatness  of  the  man  —  but  there 
are  stories  which  he  told  which  I  could  not  repeat  to 
this  audience  to-night  without  offence.  But  if  I  could 
tell  you  all  that  General  Lee  ever  said,  you  would  rise  in 
your  seats  and  thank  me  for  the  gentleness,  the  purity 
the  cleanness  of  the  speech  which  I  had  made. 

And  yet  I  have  read  within  a  week  a  book  professing 
to  be  an  appreciation  of  General  Lee  which  says  that  he 
failed.  I  cannot  believe  that  any  man  has  failed,  or 
the  principles  for  which  he  contended  have  ever  failed 
when  he  has  left  to  the  world  a  life  so  rich  and  full,  clean 
and  serene,  as  to  make  every  man  who  studies  it  desir- 
ous of  doing  something  and  being  better  himself. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   FAMOUS    "UNIVERSAL   EDUCATION"    SPEECH 
(Birmingham,  Ala.,  April,  4,  1912.) 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

I  AM  extremely  gratified  at  the  terms  in  which  his 
excellency,  the  Governor  of  Alabama,  has  seen 
fit  to  present  me  to  this  magnificent  audience; 
it  is  very  gratifying;  it  is  very  satisfying.  I  knew,  of 
course,  that  what  he  said  about  me  wasn't  the  truth. 
(Laughter.)  I  am  not  afraid  to  say  that  the  Governor 
does  not  tell  the  truth,  because  I  have  been  a  Governor 
myself  and  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about.  (Laugh- 
ter.) But  I  enjoyed  it  the  more  because  it  wasn't  the 
truth.  (Laughter.)  You  know,  it  does  not  make  a 
pretty  woman  glad  to  tell  her  so;  she  knows  it  before 
you  tell  her;  but  if  you  want  to  see  joy  irradiate  a 
woman,  you  get  an  ugly  woman  —  not  in  Alabama,  for 
you  couldn't  find  her  here  (laughter)  —  but  you  go  up 
in  New  England  and  find  an  ugly  woman  and  tell  her 
so  (laughter)  —  just  tell  her  she  is  pretty  and  she  will 
be  the  happiest,  gladdest  woman  in  the  United  States. 
(Laughter.) 

And  this  is  the  way  I  feel  to-night  when  the  Governor 
says  that  I  have  done  more  for  education  in  the  South 
than  any  other  Governor  in  it.     After  listening  to  his 

316 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  317 

magnificent  address  it  would  be  vanity  on  my  part  to 
believe  it,  but  I  am  proud  of  the  fact  that  we  have  built 
a  schoolhouse  in  North  Carolina  every  day  since  I  was 
inaugurated  as  Governor,  including  Sundays;  and  I  am 
here  to-night  to  tell  you  that  I  am  a  thorough  believer 
in  education. 

I  believe  in  universal  education.  Did  you  hear  what 
I  said?  You  see,  I  am  not  a  scary  man.  I  believe  in 
universal  education;  I  believe  in  educating  everybody. 
I  will  go  further,  and  say  that  I  believe  in  educating 
everything;  and  so  do  you  when  you  come  to  think 
about  it. 

What  do  you  mean  by  education?  You  mean  bring- 
ing out  of  a  thing  what  God  Almighty  put  into  it.  I 
repeat  that  I  am  in  favor  of  educating  everybody  and 
educating  everything.  Why,  we  have  educated  the 
Irish  potato.  You  know  what  an  Irish  potato  is  now; 
but  what  did  the  Irish  potato  used  to  be  when  it  was 
ignorant  and  had  never  gone  to  school?  Why,  it  was  a 
little  thing,  and  it  was  tough  and  bitter,  but  some  wiser 
man  than  the  average  found  it,  and  he  says,  "I  believe 
this  thing  has  got  good  in  it,  and  I  will  fetch  it  out." 
"  Fetch  "  is  a  good  word  in  North  Carolina,  but  I  do  not 
know  how  it  is  in  Alabama.  I  taught  school  myself, 
and  I  know  "  English  as  she  is  spoke. "  He  said  it  is  not 
good  and  I  will  fetch  it  out,  and  he  proceeded  to  edu- 
cate it;  to  bring  out  of  it  what  it  had  in  it.  He  planted 
and  fertilized  it  and  cultivated  it,  and  planted  it  and 
fertilized  and  cultivated,  and  planted  it,  fertilized  it 
and  cultivated  it,  until  the  Irish  potato  has  become  so 
good  that  we  have  it  three  times  a  day,  every  day  in  the 
year,  and  we  thank  God  when  leap  year  comes  and 


318  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

gives  us  one  more  day  in  which  to  eat  Irish  potatoes. 
(Laughter.)  But  you  must  understand  that  is  an 
educated  Irish  potato,  and  that  is  not  an  ignorant  Irish 
potato.  You  would  not  eat  that  old-fashioned,  igno- 
rant Irish  potato  on  Saturday. 

So  education  is  good  for  a  vegetable,  and  it  is 
good  for  animals,  and  it  is  good  for  a  mule.  You 
know  the  most  dangerous  thing  in  this  country  is  an 
old,  unbroken  mule.  Josh  Billings  said  if  he  had 
to  preach  the  funeral  of  a  mule  he  would  stand  at 
his  head.     (Laughter.) 

But  that  is  your  unbroken  mule.  We  call  it  "break- 
ing" them.  What  is  "breaking"  a  mule  except  train- 
ing him,  educating  him,  bringing  out  of  him  what  there 
is  in  him?  Why,  when  you  buy  a  mule  fresh  from  a 
drove  it  takes  two  white  men  and  one  Fifteenth 
Amendment  to  hitch  him  to  a  plow.  (Laughter.) 
And  when  you  get  him  hitched  up  he  plows  up  more 
cotton  than  he  does  grass;  but  after  you  have  broken 
him,  trained  him,  developed  him,  educated  him,  why 
that  old  mule  goes  right  along.  He  used  to,  in  our 
State,  when  I  was  a  farmer.  Why,  that  old  mule  would 
go  right  along  down  the  side  of  this  cotton  and  when  a 
clod  dropped  over  on  it  she  would  keep  her  head  so  you 
could  lift  it  off.  (Laughter.)  I  have  done  it  and  I 
know  how  to  do  it;  I  say  what  I  believe  because  I  know 
that  if  you  don't  let  me  make  a  living  practising  law  or 
in  politics  I  can  plow  it  out. 

Well,  if  it  is  good  for  a  mule  it  is  good  for  a  dog. 
Does  anybody  hunt  foxes  in  Alabama?  If  it  were  day- 
time I  could  look  in  your  faces  and  tell,  because  if  there 
is  any  lovely  man  on  the  face  of  the  earth  it  is  one  of 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  319 

these  old  time  fox  hunters.  (Laughter.)  When  I 
used  to  travel  up  and  down  North  Carolina,  making 
political  speeches,  and  night  would  be  coming  on  and  I 
didn't  know  just  where  I  was  going  to  stay,  I  would 
begin  to  look  out  on  the  roadside,  and  if  I  came  to  a 
nice  place  but  didn't  see  a  dog  there  I  would  go  right  on 
through;  but  if  I  got  to  a  place  and  found  about  fifteen 
hounds  reclining  in  the  declining  rays  of  the  sun,  I 
drove  right  in  and  stayed  there,  because  I  know  there 
ain't  a  man  in  North  Carolina  that  will  feed  fifteen 
hounds  but  will  be  glad  to  feed  me  and  want  me  to  stay 
a  week  with  him. 

Now,  take  that  hound  puppy,  a  hound  puppy  that 
hasn't  run  foxes.  He  would  get  up  before  breakfast 
and  start  a  rabbit  before  being  told  to.  But  when  you 
want  this  hound  to  hunt  foxes  you  take  that  puppy  and 
break  him,  train  him,  educate  him.  You  take  him  out 
on  some  beautiful  moonlight  night  in  the  cold  crispness 
of  the  early  fall  or  the  late  fall  or  early  winter,  with  the 
old  hound  —  and  you  take  the  boys  along  with  you  too, 
if  you  are  a  good-hearted  man  —  and  you  won't  have 
been  out  more  than  fifteen  minutes  before  every  one 
of  those  dogs  will  be  going,  "Yow,  yow,  yow,"  and 
the  old  fox  hunter  says,  "Shut  up,  that  is  no  fox;  it  is 
nothing  but  a  rabbit."  You  wait  until  you  hear  the 
music.  And  by  and  by,  away  off  yonder  on  the  hill  a 
mile  away  you  will  hear  the  music  come,  and  your  fox 
hunter  says,  "Stop,  hush!"  He  waits  until  she  gives 
mouth  again.  He  says,  "Hush  up  there."  He  sends 
the  other  dogs  in  because  he  knows  a  fox  has  gone  along 
there  as  well  as  he  would  if  he  had  seen  the  fox  put  his 
foot  down  there,  because  that  music  is  educated  and 


320  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

she  speaks  the  truth.  Let  me  say  to  you  teachers  that 
that  is  the  very  first  essential  of  all  true  education,  the 
personal  verity  of  it,  the  truth  telling  that  comes  out 
of  it.     (Applause.) 

Good  for  a  hound  dog?  Then  it  is  good  for  a  pointer. 
Maybe  you  think,  you  bird  hunters,  these  pointers 
always  did  point  birds.  No,  they  didn't  any  such 
thing.  Why,  the  pointers  used  to  hunt  birds,  but  they 
hunted  birds  to  eat,  for  a  pointer  loves  a  bird  just  as 
well  as  you  love  quail  on  toast.  But  away  back  yonder 
the  man  said,  "I  will  take  this  instinct  of  the  dog  to 
hunt  birds  and  I  will  make  him  hunt  birds  for  me  in- 
stead of  for  himself." 

And  he  took  him  and  trained  him  and  taught  him  and 
educated  him,  and  he  developed,  generation  after  gener- 
ation, generation  after  generation.  And  some  years 
ago  a  man  who  loved  hunting  told  me  that  he  had  this 
experience  with  his  dog :  He  took  him  out  in  the  field, 
struck  the  track  of  a  covey;  he  followed  it  down  to  a 
high  rail  fence.  The  dog  jumped  up  on  the  fence  and 
got  to  the  topmost  rail  and  discovered  that  the  covey 
was  just  on  the  other  side,  and  he  couldn't  keep  his 
position  on  the  fence.  He  knew  if  he  sprang  over  that 
he  would  flush  the  covey;  and  he  let  himself  down,  step 
by  step,  until  he  quietly  got  on  the  ground  and  ran  up 
the  fence  fifty  yards  and  jumped  the  fence  and  came 
up  on  the  other  side,  and  sat,  and  never  stirred  at  all, 
with  every  nerve  a-tingle,  with  the  saliva  dropping  down 
his  mouth,  because  he  wanted  to  spring  upon  the  bird; 
but  he  wouldn't  spring  until  his  master  said  go,  because 
he  had  in  him  the  second  power  that  comes  with  all 
true  education;  and  that  is  the  power  of  self-restraint, 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  321 

to  hold  on  until  the  hour  comes  to  strike  and  go. 
(Applause.) 

Yes,  it  is  good  for  dogs.  Well,  if  it  is,  it  is  good  for 
human  beings.  That  is,  to  bring  out  of  them  all  that 
there  is  in  them.  You  understand,  if  there  is  not  any- 
thing in  them  you  can't  get  anything  out  of  them.  But 
the  question  I  put  to  you  is,  Who  appointed  you  to  say 
that  there  isn't  anything  in  this  little  child?  Did  God 
Almighty  endow  any  man  or  woman  in  this  audience 
with  that  subtle  knowledge  that  would  enable  you  to 
go  in  a  schoolroom  of  children  and  put  your  hand  on 
the  head  of  this  six-year-old  boy  and  say  that  God 
appoints  him  to  greatness  and  distinction  and  honor;  to 
put  your  hand  on  the  head  of  this  other  six-year-old 
boy  and  say  that  God  Almighty  intended  him  for  the 
ditch  or  to  split  rails?  No,  God  hasn't  conferred  that 
power  upon  any  of  us;  but  He  has  said  to  us  all,  Open 
wide  the  schoolhouses  and  give  to  every  child  the 
opportunity  to  develop  all  there  is  in  him.  If  God 
didn't  put  anything  there  you  and  I  can't  bring  it  out; 
but  if  you  and  I  suffer  the  light  of  such  a  one  to  be  hid- 
den under  a  bushel,  may  the  sin  and  shame  of  it  abide 
on  us  forevermore. 

Well,  my  friends,  you  say  to  me,  "Yes,  I  am  in  favor 
of  education  of  everybody,  but  then  I  want  everybody 
to  do  his  own  educating.  I  am  going  to  educate  my 
children,  you  need  not  bother  about  that,  Governor; 
that  is  what  I  am  staying  awake  at  nights  for;  that  is 
what  I  am  working  for;  that  is  what  I  am  saving  for; 
that  is  the  reason  I  am  willing  to  bear  the  name  of 
stingy.  I  am  saving  my  money;  I  am  going  to  educate 
my  boys  and  girls.     I  am  going  to  send  them  through 


322  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

the  schools;  I  am  going  to  send  them  through  the  col- 
lege; I  am  going  to  send  them  through  the  university; 
if  they  show  any  high  turn  I  am  going  to  send  them 
abroad;  I  am  going  to  train  my  boys  and  girls.  Don't 
be  uneasy  about  that." 

Oh,  my  friends,  I  thank  God  Almighty,  who  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,  that  you  cannot  get  the  best  for 
your  boy  and  your  girl  until  you  are  ready  to  give  the 
best  to  my  boy  and  my  girl.  You  can  take  that  boy  of 
yours  and  send  him  through  the  schools,  send  him 
through  the  college,  send  him  through  the  university, 
send  him  abroad,  bring  him  back  home,  head  and 
shoulders  above  his  friends  and  neighbors,  but  he  won't 
be  very  high  when  he  is  head  and  shoulders  above  his 
neighbors  if  his  neighbors  are  ignorant  and  untaught 
and  weak.  You  cannot  get  the  best  out  of  your  boy 
unless  other  people's  boys  are  educated  nearly  or  quite 
as  well  as  your  boy;  you  have  got  to  get  the  best  out  of 
your  boy  by  competing  with  other  boys  that  are  near 
about  as  good  as  he  is  but  not  quite. 

If  you  want  to  get  the  best  out  of  a  horse  do  you  put 
that  horse  on  the  track  by  himself?  By  no  manner  of 
means.  How  did  they  break  the  record  below  two 
minutes?  When  they  began  training  horses  away  back 
yonder  when  I  was  a  boy  they  got  him  down  to  2: 40, 
and  the  record  stayed  at  2 :  40  so  long  that  it  became  a 
proverb.  Whenever  the  old  folks  would  say  a  man  had 
started  to  the  devil  by  the  short  road  they  would  say 
he  was  going  a  2 :  40  gait.  How  did  they  get  it  below 
2:  40?  Did  they  train  one  horse?  No.  They  trained 
10,000  horses,  all  over  the  world  until  they  found  one 
that  broke  it  at  2 :  38,  and  then  they  trained  10,000  more 


Q  H^UUiAX^  a/v^   (^o  -w#^-  it+*Yr-  *A*+t~  tk^  ^ 
)%U/  imx  <rv  f^rt^  t-*fl***4~  -t^Ln-t+Ji^  eu^\s  fa 

M*Mt  feu  /wHt*4-  'Y^t,  &&~ 


OUTLINE  FOR  GOVERNOR  AYCOCK'S  UNIVERSAL 
EDUCATION  SPEECH 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  323 

until  they  found  one  that  broke  it  at  2:36,  and  then 
10,000  more  until  they  brought  it  step  by  step,  and  step 
by  step  until  they  got  it  down  to  two  minutes,  and 
when  they  got  it  down  to  two  minutes  and  a  half  second 
they  trained  10,000  other  horses  and  some  man  said,  "I 
have  found  one  horse  that  I  think  will  do  it."  And 
then  did  they  put  her  on  the  race  track  by  herself? 
No.  They  put  her  on  the  race  track  and  put  a  boy  on 
the  running  horse,  and  put  the  runner  behind  her,  and 
with  whip  and  spur  he  pressed  her,  pressed  her,  strong 
in  her  determination  that  she  would  win  the  day,  that 
she  would  give  up  the  last  breath  she  had  before  this 
running  horse  should  beat  her  under  the  wire,  and  so  in 
one  grand  last  burst  of  speed  she  went  under  the  wire  in 
less  than  two  minutes  with  the  runner  at  her  heels. 
Your  boy  is  going  to  run  a  race;  he  wants  to  run  a  race 
with  a  race  horse  and  not  with  a  scrub.     (Applause.) 

Suppose  he  can  outrun  his  neighbor;  if  this  neighbor 
can't  make  more  than  two  miles  an  hour,  your  boy  is 
not  running  much  is  he?  Suppose  he  does  stand  head 
and  shoulders  above  his  neighbor :  if  this  neighbor  is  not 
more  than  five  feet  high,  he  is  not  tall.  Suppose  he  can 
throw  his  neighbor  down,  but  his  neighbor  can't  lift 
more  than  twenty-five  pounds,  your  boy  is  not  much 
strong. 

Oh,  no,  if  you  want  the  best  for  your  boy,  thank  God 
you  have  got  to  believe  in  this  splendid,  grand  democ- 
racy and  give  to  my  boy  and  other  people's  boys  the 
same  opportunity  that  your  boy  has  got,  and  if  then 
your  boy  outruns  our  boys  in  the  race  he  will  be  a 
winner  that  is  worth  while  and  he  will  be  something  that 
is  worth  being  proud  of. 


CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK 

You  are  going  to  educate  your  girl;  I  know  you  are. 
You  are  going  to  sit  up  all  night  to  educate  her;  you  are 
going  to  save  to  educate  her;  going  to  economize;  going 
to  be  stingy  to  educate  her.  Maybe  you  want  her  to 
make  a  musician.  Well,  I  am  going  to  tell  you.  You 
can  send  her  to  all  the  schools;  you  can  let  her  burn  the 
midnight  oil;  you  can  let  her  study  under  great  musi- 
cians until  she  is  almost  blind;  you  can  send  her  to  the 
conservatory  of  music,  you  can  send  her  abroad  until 
her  whole  soul  thrills  and  feels  the  glory  of  her  gifted 
music,  but  she  cannot  make  music  to  people  that  do  not 
understand.  You  cannot  talk  to  an  audience  that 
cannot  hear.  Governor,  did  you  ever  try  it?  Well, 
I  have.  When  I  was  Governor  I  made  speeches  all  over 
North  Carolina.  I  canvassed  the  State  for  four  years 
in  behalf  of  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  State, 
right  straight  along;  sometimes  on  Sundays  they  would 
ask  me  down  to  the  churches  to  talk,  and  I  always 

talked  about  education 

(At  this  juncture  the  speaker  fell  dead.) 


CHAPTER  XI 

GOVERNOR    AYCOCK'S    LAST    MESSAGE    TO    THE    PEOPLE 
OF   HIS    STATE 

(Address  Prepared  for  Delivery  in  Raleigh,  April  12,  1912.) 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

1  OUGHT  to  look  my  happiness  to-night  and  not 
be  reduced  to  the  inadequacy  of  words  with 
which  to  express  my  appreciation  of  your  greet- 
ing. I  come  to  talk  to  you  as  a  simple  Democrat, 
talking  to  fellow  Democrats,  for  I  am  a  plain  and  sim- 
ple man,  who  loves  his  friend  and  has  never  been  hated 
enough  by  any  man  to  make  him  hate  again  in  return. 
And  I  am  a  Democrat.  I  am  not  a  conservative  or  a 
reactionary  Democrat;  I  am  not  a  progressive  Demo- 
crat, for  the  word  "Democrat"  with  me  is  a  noun 
substantive  of  so  fine  and  large  import  that  it  admits 
of  no  addition  or  diminution  of  any  qualifying  word  or 
phrase. 

WHAT   IS   A   DEMOCRAT? 

What  is  a  Democrat?  He  is  an  individualist.  He 
believes  in  the  right  of  every  man  to  be  and  to  make  of 
himself  all  that  God  has  put  into  him.  He  is  a  man 
who  believes  and  practises  the  doctrine  of  equal  rights 
and  the  duty  and  obligation  of  seeing  to  it  as  far  as  he 
can  that  no  man  shall  be  denied  the  chances  in  life 

325 


326  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

which  God  intended  for  him  to  have.  He  is  a  man  who 
believes  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  who 
is  filled  with  that  spirit  of  equality  which  has  made  this 
country  of  ours  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed  of  all  the 
world  and  the  hope  of  this  age  and  of  all  ages  to  come. 

It  is  this  spirit  of  democracy  and  of  equal  opportunity 
—  for  the  terms  are  interchangeable  and  are  equal  to 
each  other — which  has  conquered  America,  causing  the 
three  millions  scattered  along  the  coast  at  the  end  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  to  swarm  with  mighty  energy  and 
power  over  the  Alleghanies,  press  across  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  to  run  with  haste  across  the  prairies,  to  climb 
with  energy  the  mighty  Rocky  Mountains,  and  never 
to  tire  until  they  stood  with  unf  agging  energy  and  gazed 
upon  the  rolling  and  majestic  sweep  of  the  mighty 
Pacific. 

One  sometimes  stops  and  asks  himself  why  the  rest- 
less energy,  the  untiring  seeking  after  new  land  which 
has  characterized  this  American  people?  What  is  it 
that  has  swept  them  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific? 
What  is  it  that  has  made  them  give  up  the  comfort  and 
ease  of  civilized  homes  to  live  in  vast  prairies  and  lonely 
mountains,  far  from  one  another  and  from  all  the  con- 
veniences of  more  thickly  populated  sections?  The 
answer  can  be  found  in  the  determination  of  every 
American  to  find  a  larger  freedom,  and  when  this  has 
failed  him  in  the  crowded  cities  and  thickly  settled  farm 
districts,  he  has  moved  elsewhere  to  find  it. 

But  the  mountains  and  plains  have  been  conquered. 
The  lands  have  all  been  settled.  There  is  no  other 
place  for  men  to  seek  and  they  must  find  this  larger 
liberty  at  home  or  forego  it  forever.     The  task,  there- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  327 

fore,  of  securing  liberty  comes  to  us  afresh.  It  is  no 
longer  possible  for  men  to  run  away  from  oppression 
and  inequality.  It  is  no  longer  within  their  power  to 
find  this  larger  liberty  elsewhere,  and  they  must  work 
it  out  for  themselves  in  the  crowded  cities  and  in  the 
thickly  populated  homesteads.  This  is  the  task  of  the 
present  hour. 

THE   PROBLEM   OF   THE   HOUR 

During  the  span  of  my  life,  now  just  a  little  more 
than  half  a  century,  I  have  seen  this  struggle  of  the 
people  for  continued  and  enlarged  freedom  tirelessly 
seeking  to  work  itself  out ;  I  have  seen  the  nation  grow 
in  wealth  and  enormous  fortunes  piled  up;  I  have  seen 
railroads  built  until  every  part  of  the  country  is  in  touch 
with  every  other;  I  have  seen  the  telegraph  and  tele- 
phone bringing  all  the  ends  of  the  nation  together;  I 
have  seen  industry  develop  and  grow  and  wax  strong 
and  mighty,  producing  fabulous  wealth  and  enormous 
products;  and  I  have  seen  the  earth  perform  her  duty 
in  the  yield  to  the  industry  and  science  of  man  until  her 
products  are  enough  to  feed  and  clothe  and  house  every 
human  being  abundantly;  I  have  heard  the  great  ora- 
tors declaim  that  with  the  coming  of  this  wealth  there 
should  come  also  a  better  age  and  a  finer  chance  for 
those  who  sweat  and  struggle  and  toil  and  make  the 
wealth,  and  yet  I  have  looked  in  vain  for  the  coming  of 
that  hour,  and  as  I  read  the  current  history  of  the 
times,  I  find  strikes  and  lockouts  and  hunger  and  cold 
and  suffering  greater  than  when  Great  Britain  acknowl- 
edged the  independence  of  the  Thirteen  American 
Colonies ! 


THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

We  have  just  touched  the  beginning  of  productive- 
ness. The  scientist  and  the  business  man,  the  inventor 
and  the  captains  of  industry  stand  ready  to-day  to 
produce  for  the  world  all  that  it  needs  for  sustenance, 
for  comfort,  and  for  reasonable  luxury.  The  task  of 
the  statesmen  of  this  hour  is  to  devise  some  method  by 
which  this  enormous  production  shall  be  for  the  utili- 
zation of  the  multitude  rather  than  for  the  appropria- 
tion of  the  few.  This  is  a  task  which  has  ever  been 
upon  the  hearts  of  all  thoughtful  and  well-informed 
men  of  generous  disposition,  but  the  appeal  was  never 
quite  so  compelling  as  it  is  at  this  hour.  With  the 
wealth  in  the  country  so  great  as  to  startle  imagination, 
to  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  thousands  of  hungry  and 
cold  strikers  at  Lawrence,  Mass.,  and  watch  the  strug- 
gles of  the  coal  miners,  seeking  for  a  decent  living;  to 
see  men  in  the  greatest  trust  and  richest  organization 
on  earth  working  twelve  hours  a  day  every  day,  includ- 
ing Sunday,  on  a  wage  that  barely  keeps  body  and  soul 
together;  and  to  realize  that  these  things  are  happening 
in  this  land  of  freedom,  of  superabundance,  and  are 
happening  despite  the  efforts  of  right-minded  men  with 
good  hearts,  humbly  seeking  wisdom  from  God  suffi- 
cient to  enable  them  to  correct  these  conditions,  makes 
one  feel  with  Tennyson  like 

"An  infant  crying  in  the  night, 
An  infant  crying  for  the  light, 
And  with  no  language  but  a  cry." 

EQUAL  OPPORTUNITY  THE  ONE  REMEDY 

And  yet  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  believe  that  the 
problem  is  unsolvable.     Yea,  I  believe  that  it  has 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  329 

already  been  solved  and  the  solution  has  been  for- 
gotten by  us.  It  was  solved  in  the  single  phrase, "  Equal 
opportunity  to  all  and  special  privilege  to  none."  It 
found  its  correct  exposition  in  the  inaugural  address  of 
President  Jefferson  when  he  insisted  that  the  Govern- 
ment should  be  economically  conducted  to  the  end  that 
labor  should  be  lightly  burdened. 

This  latter  is  a  simple  sentence.  It  has  not  in  it  a 
single  striking  quality.  It  is  so  plain,  it  is  so  easy,  that 
it  is  not  like  the  solution  of  a  difficult  problem,  and  be- 
ing easy  and  plain,  we  have  forgotten  and  failed  to 
apply  it.  We  have  ever  since  this  utterance  been  going 
steadily  away  from  it  and  seeking  to  find  equality  of 
opportunity  in  the  extension  of  special  privileges  to 
some  in  the  hope  that  out  of  their  abundance  they 
would  make  easier  the  condition  of  all.  We  have  for 
all  these  years  been  supposing  that  it  was  possible  to 
better  the  condition  of  the  workingman  by  taxing  him 
for  the  benefit  of  special  industries  so  that  these  en- 
riched industries  might  in  turn  play  my  Lord  Bountiful 
to  him,  forgetful  of  the  axiomatic  principle  underlying 
Jefferson's  phrase,  that,  after  all,  all  taxation  comes  out 
of  labor  itself,  for  wealth  is  nothing  but  the  accumulated 
product  of  labor  translated  into  things  of  use. 

I  lay  down  this  principle:  No  man  who  is  not  a 
creator  of  wealth  pays  any  tax.  Custom-house  officers, 
the  collector  of  internal  revenue,  the  sheriff,  the  tax 
collector,  may  collect  taxes  out  of  him  because  he  has  in 
his  possession  wealth  created  by  others,  but  he  himself 
does  not  contribute  to  the  support  of  his  government 
in  any  degree.  When  he  pays  his  so-called  tax,  he 
charges  it  to  some  one  else,  and  usually  makes  this 


330  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

other  person  pay  interest  and  profit  on  the  tax  which  he 
has  ostensibly  paid. 

If  this  be  true  —  and  it  is  true,  and  no  man  can 
successfully  dispute  it  —  then  there  is  no  possibility  of 
giving  superior  advantages  to  labor  by  any  tax  which 
has  yet  been  devised  by  the  ingenuity  of  man.  And 
this  brings  us  easily  and  naturally  to  some  discussion 
of  the  method  of  taxation  adopted  by  the  national 
Government,  and  now  in  force  under  the  legislation  of 
the  Republican  party,  and  which  has  been  in  force,  with 
some  changes  and  modifications  with  a  tendency  ever 
upward,  since  1860.  There  is  not  a  tax  law  existing, 
there  is  not  a  special  privilege  enriching  some  at  the 
expense  of  many  now  in  force  in  the  United  States, 
which  is  not  in  force  by  reason  of  legislation  passed  by 
the  Republican  party.  There  is  not  a  swollen  fortune 
—  which  my  stenographer  properly  wrote,  stolen  for- 
tune —  threatening  the  structure  of  our  Government, 
the  peace  of  the  nation  and  the  hope  of  the  age,  that  is 
not  the  creation  of  Republican  legislation;  and  the  most 
of  it  is  based  upon  the  one  question  of  taxation. 

$110  A  YEAR   TABIFF  TAX  PAID  BY  EACH  FAMILY 

It  is  no  wonder  that  our  forefathers  went  to  war  upon 
this  great  question.  It  is  no  wonder  that  our  early 
English  forefathers  won  every  step  in  the  advancement 
of  liberty  around  this  single  question.  I  am  almost 
tempted  to  say  that  no  battle  has  been  fought  and  won 
in  behalf  of  humanity,  in  favor  of  enlarged  liberty  and 
greater  opportunity,  that  has  not  been  fought  around 
this  single  question  of  taxation.  The  United  States 
raises    annually   out   of   taxation   on   imports   about 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  331 

$330,000,000,  and  for  every  dollar  of  this  $330,000,000 
that  goes  into  the  treasury,  at  least  five  other  dollars 
go  into  the  treasuries  of  the  special  interests.  Add 
these  sums  together  and  they  make  $1,980,000,000, 
which  is  $22  for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the 
United  States.  Assuming  that  there  are  five  members 
in  each  family,  this  would  be  $110  to  be  paid  by  the 
head  of  each  family,  and  this  payment  is  a  tax,  and  the 
worst  feature  of  this  tax  is,  that  one  sixth  of  the  tax  goes 
into  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  to  secure  for  us  a 
proper  conduct  of  our  Government,  while  five  sixths  of 
it  go  into  the  treasuries  of  great  corporations  upon 
the  assumption  that  in  their  kindness  and  out  of  their 
ability  they  will  increase  the  wages  of  labor. 

We  have  at  last  reached  a  time  in  the  discussion  of 
the  tariff  when  it  is  conceded  that  the  tariff  is  a  tax  and 
that  this  tax  is  paid  by  the  people  of  the  country  that 
imposes  it.  The  tax  is  indirect  and  the  amount  paid  by 
each  individual  is  never  considered  by  him  when  he  goes 
to  purchase  his  goods,  and  if  he  thinks  of  it  at  all,  he 
never  knows  how  much  he  is  paying.  But  the  average 
tax  on  all  goods  imported  into  the  United  States  is 
something  more  than  40  per  cent,  and  this  additional 
tax,  collected  in  the  first  instance  by  custom  houses 
when  the  goods  are  brought  into  the  country,  is  added 
to  the  cost  of  the  goods  by  the  importer,  who  adds  his 
profit  on  the  original  cost  of  the  goods  and  on  the  tax  as 
well,  when  he  sells  to  the  wholesale  merchant ;  and  the 
wholesale  merchant  adds  his  profit  on  cost,  including 
tax  whei  he  sells  to  the  retailer;  and  the  retailer  must 
add  his  profit  on  the  whole  cost,  including  the  tax  when 
he  sells  to  the  consumer.     So  that  instead  of  being 


332  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

something  over  40  per  cent.,  as  it  appears  when  col- 
lected at  the  custom  house,  it  becomes  a  great  deal 
more  before  it  reaches  the  consumer. 

HOW  THE  PEOPLE  ARE  DECEIVED 

The  tax  on  sugar  has  been  used  by  Professor  Taussig 
as  an  apt  and  easy  illustration  of  the  operation  of  the 
tariff.  The  duty  on  sugar  now  amounts  to  about  one 
and  one  half  cents  per  pound  on  that  imported  to  the 
United  States.  The  treasury  gets  out  of  this  tax 
$50,000,000,  but  on  the  sugar  produced  in  the  United 
States  the  treasury  does  not  get  a  single  cent,  but 
$60,000,000  goes  into  the  pockets  of  the  producers  or 
manufacturers  of  sugar,  making  a  total  of  $110,000,000 
paid  by  the  American  people  on  the  single  item  of  sugar 
in  the  course  of  a  year,  or  at  the  rate  of  $7.25  for  each 
family.  In  order  to  make  it  clear  to  us  all  exactly  how 
this  works,  Professor  Taussig  suggests  that  instead  of 
the  Government  collecting  tax  at  custom  houses,  we 
assume  that  it  collects  the  tax  through  the  retail 
grocers.  On  this  assumption,  when  you  buy  fourteen 
pounds  of  sugar  for  $1.02,  the  grocer  would  inform  you 
that  his  charge  was  80  cents,  but  that  when  you  had 
paid  this  80  cents  there  were  some  other  items  that  must 
be  paid  before  you  could  get  your  fourteen  pounds  of 
sugar.  Thereupon  you  would  pay  10  cents  to  the 
grocer  for  the  use  of  the  United  States  Government  with 
which  to  help  run  the  Government  in  paying  salaries 
and  pensions,  in  building  battleships,  in  maintaining 
the  army  and  other  expenses  of  the  Government,  and 
having  paid  this  10  cents  to  the  Government,  you  would 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  333 

thereupon  be  called  upon  for  12  cents  more  for  the  use 
of  the  sugar  producers. 

If  this  were  the  method  actually  in  force  for  the  col- 
lection of  the  tariff  taxes,  there  never  would  be  another 
tax  levied  for  the  sake  of  protection,  and  no  Congress- 
man would  ever  vote  for  any  tariff  tax  except  for  the 
direst  need  of  the  Government,  and  he  would  always 
be  able  to  show  to  his  constituents  that  every  dollar  of 
it  was  needed  by  the  Government  when  administered 
in  the  most  economical  fashion.  If  a  tax  be  hidden 
from  observation  by  being  withdrawn  from  attention, 
and  when  called  to  mind  is  covered  with  the  pretence  of 
being  levied  for  the  benefit  of  labor,  it  presents  itself  in 
a  different  aspect,  and  the  American  people  have  borne 
this  tax  and  have  suffered  themselves  to  be  exploited  by 
a  continual  raise  in  it,  until  the  enormous  accumulations 
of  protected  industries  and  the  tremendous  wealth  of 
trusts  growing  up  under  this  protection,  have  startled 
them  into  an  examination  of  the  whole  subject  of  tariff 
taxation. 

IMMORALITY   AND   INEQUALITY   OF   PROTECTION 

This  reexamination  of  the  subject  of  tariff  taxation 
is  to-day  being  had.  On  one  side  we  find  the  national 
Democratic  party  declaring  that  the  tariff  should  be 
levied  for  revenue  only  with  which  to  run  the  Govern- 
ment economically  administered,  while  the  Republi- 
cans, growing  bolder  as  the  years  go  on,  have  now  put 
into  their  platform  a  declaration  which  they  have  never 
dared  to  put  there  before  —  that  is,  that  the  tariff 
should  be  so  levied  as  to  cover  the  difference  in  the  cost 


334  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

of  production  in  the  United  States  and  abroad,  with  a 
reasonable  profit  to  the  manufacturer. 

The  coming  campaign  for  the  Presidency  is  to  be 
fought  out  along  the  line  marked  by  these  two  con- 
flicting platforms.  To  be  sure,  some  men  who  believe 
in  a  tariff  for  revenue  only  will  vote  the  Republican 
ticket  and  some  men  who  believe  in  a  tariff  for  protec- 
tion will  vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  but  in  the  main, 
the  great  body  of  the  people  voting  the  one  ticket  or 
the  other  will  cast  their  votes  in  accordance  with  their 
convictions  on  this  subject  of  taxation.  On  which  side 
shall  you  and  I  vote  and  why?  For  my  part  I  shall 
vote  the  Democratic  ticket  because  I  believe  in  a  tariff 
levied  for  revenue  only  and  do  not  believe  in  a  tariff 
levied  for  the  sake  of  protection. 

I  know,  or  think  that  I  know,  that  all  taxation,  save 
the  income  tax  alone,  however  levied  and  for  whatever 
purpose,  in  its  nature  tends  to  monopoly,  and  this 
tendency  to  monopoly  becomes  greater  the  higher  the 
tax.  And  I  know  that  all  taxes,  save  the  income  tax 
alone,  are  in  the  ultimate  paid  by  the  men  who  do  the 
labor.  It  must  be  dug  out  of  the  ground.  It  must  be 
hammered  into  houses.  It  must  be  sweated  out  in  the 
mines.  For  taxation  cannot  be  raised  out  of  idleness 
and  is  ever  a  burden  upon  industry.  The  men  who 
work  pay  the  taxes,  and  the  men  who  idle  eat  them. 
You  may  tax  some  people  rich  by  creating  a  monopoly 
by  reason  of  taxation,  but  you  cannot  tax  all  the  people 
rich.  You  may  create  monopoly  and  special  privileges 
out  of  which  the  few  will  wax  strong  and  mighty  while 
the  many  bear  the  burden,  but  you  cannot  by  taxation, 
by  burdening  those  who  labor,  make  all  of  them  richer. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  335 

HOW   PROTECTION   BREEDS   TRUSTS 

Taxation  may  be  used,  as  it  has  been  used,  in  such 
fashion  as  to  change  wealth  from  one  to  another,  enrich- 
ing some  while  impoverishing  others,  and  this  is  particu- 
larly the  case  with  tariff  taxation,  for  tariff  taxation  is  a 
tax  upon  consumption  and  all  the  people  are  consumers, 
and  they  are  consumers  not  in  proportion  to  their 
ability  to  buy  but  in  proportion  to  their  necessities.  I 
am  necessitated  to  eat  and  wear  as  much  as  John  D. 
Rockefeller,  and  if  he  does  eat  and  wear  more  than  I,  it 
is  because  of  his  desire  and  from  no  necessity.  If  he 
lives  on  what  I  am  compelled  to  live  on,  he  pays  no 
more  tax  toward  running  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment than  I  pay,  and  the  tax  which  would  be  a  burden 
to  me  and  lessen  my  ability  for  service  is  no  burden  to 
him.  But  by  keeping  other  people  out  of  business  for 
the  want  of  adequate  capital,  he  makes  stronger  his 
grip  and  monopoly  over  his  own  business. 

The  first  effect  of  the  tariff  tax  is  to  increase  the  price 
of  all  articles  upon  which  it  is  levied  and  those  who 
produce  the  taxed  articles  in  the  country  get  the  benefit 
of  this  tax  in  their  ability  to  sell  their  productions  at  a 
higher  price.  This  higher  price  means  for  them  suc- 
cess; in  many  instances  it  means  enormous  wealth;  it 
means  tremendous  fortunes.  But  as  the  people  see 
those  who  are  in  the  protected  industry  prosper,  others 
turn  to  this  industry  and  begin  business  and  make 
money  at  it,  swift  and  sure  and  fast,  and  others  in  turn 
do  the  same  until  the  business  is  crowded  and  overdone 
and  production  —  which  has  been  made  at  a  greater 
cost  than  in  foreign  countries  by  reason  of  the  higher 


336  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

cost  of  everything  that  enters  into  it  —  has  become 
excessive  and  cannot  be  consumed  in  the  home  market. 
And  then  the  process  of  elimination  sets  in,  the  strong 
taking  hold  of  the  weakest,  and  the  strong  taking  hold 
of  the  weakest,  and  the  strong  taking  hold  of  the 
weakest,  until  all  the  weak  have  been  eliminated 
and  the  strongest  has  become  one.  And  this  is  the 
genesis  of  your  trust,  of  your  monopoly,  created, 
fostered,  made  an  absolute  fact  by  the  tariff  law,  and 
with  this  monopoly  comes  the  inevitable  raise  in  prices, 
higher  and  higher  and  higher  until  they  have  set  the 
whole  country  to  wondering  what  is  the  cause  of  the 
high  price  of  living  and  why  is  it  that  American  manu- 
facturers are  selling  abroad  cheaper  than  they  are  at 
home;  for  that  they  do  sell  abroad  cheaper  than  in 
America  is  no  longer  disputed.  The  farmer  can  buy  his 
agricultural  implements,  the  mechanic  his  tools,  the 
manufacturer  his  machinery,  the  railroad  builder  his 
locomotives,  the  woman  her  sewing  machine,  all  cheaper 
abroad  than  they  can  at  home,  and  this  when  all  the 
goods  are  made  in  America. 

PROTECTION    A    SOURCE    OF    CORRUPTION    AND    MORAL 
CONTAGION 

Not  only  does  the  tariff  tax  have  the  effect  of  increas- 
ing the  cost  of  living  and  concentrating  wealth  in  the 
hands  of  the  few,  but  it  corrupts  the  entire  body  politic 
and  makes  the  tariff  issue  a  moral  question  which  the 
American  people  must  face  and  face  now  if  they  propose 
to  save  for  their  children  the  vital  principles  of  equity 
and  righteousness  handed  down  to  them  by  their  fore- 
fathers.    If  it  be  conceded  to  be  the  duty  of  govern- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  337 

ment  to  make  up  to  manufacturers  the  difference 
between  cost  of  production  in  this  country  and  in 
foreign  countries  and  also  guarantee  to  them  a  reason- 
able profit,  then  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in 
Congress  become  the  agents  of  the  people  for  carrying 
out  this  purpose.  They  hold  in  their  hands  the  wealth 
or  the  poverty,  the  success  or  the  failure  of  these  pro- 
tected industries,  and  the  protected  industries  have  a 
right  to  and  do  look  to  them  to  safeguard  their  interests. 
The  beneficiaries  of  this  theory  come  to  look  upon 
government  and  the  representatives  of  the  people  in 
Congress  as  their  government  and  their  representatives 
responsible  to  them  and  not  to  the  people  for  legislation. 
To  this  end  they  do  not  hesitate  to  lay  before  the  Con- 
gress their  selfish  views,  their  special  and  particular 
interests,  and  to  enforce  these  views  and  interests  with 
subtle  argument  and  convincing  figures,  and  to  back 
up  the  arguments  and  figures  with  threats  of  non- 
support  if  the  representatives  in  Congress  do  not  yield 
to  such  demands;  and  whenever  they  find  these  repre- 
sentatives amenable  to  their  arguments,  figures  and 
threats,  they  naturally  feel  toward  these  representa- 
tives a  sense  of  gratitude  growing  out  of  their  prosperity 
which  makes  them  willing  to  contribute  liberally  to  the 
campaign  funds  of  such  representatives  until  now  the 
conduct  of  Congressional  and  Senatorial  elections 
throughout  the  country  has  become  attended  with  such 
a  fearful  expenditure  of  money  as  to  eliminate  from 
consideration  on  the  part  of  the  people  those  candidates 
who  are  without  means,  or  who  having  means,  yet 
retain  a  sense  of  dignity,  propriety  and  decency  which 
forbids  them  from  entering  into  a  money-spending  con- 


338  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

test  for  what  used  to  be  regarded  as  honors  for  the 
reward  of  service  to  the  whole  body  of  the  people.  We 
have  recently  witnessed  the  vindication  of  a  Senator 
by  the  United  States  Senate  who  frankly  admits  that 
he  spent  in  the  Senatorial  contest  $107,000,  and  justifies 
the  expenditure  on  the  grounds  that  every  cent  of  it  was 
used  legitimately  and  not  illegitimately;  and  the  Senate 
must  have  come  to  the  same  conclusion  in  order  to  per- 
mit him  to  retain  his  seat.  The  whole  salary  of  this 
Senator  for  his  six  years'  term  amounts  to  less  than  half 
the  sum  which  he  spent  to  secure  the  office.  And  this 
is  so  common  a  matter  that  it  has  ceased  to  startle  the 
conscience  of  the  American  people,  or  to  awaken  in 
them  that  surprise  and  exasperation  which  are  neces- 
sary to  correct  the  evil  which  has  insistently  grown  into 
such  vast  proportions.  Another  United  States  Senator 
is  charged  with  having  gained  his  seat  through  the 
intervention  of  protected  interests  who  are  said  to  have 
raised  more  than  $100,000  for  the  purpose  of  corrupting 
members  of  the  Legislature,  and  it  is  charged  that  the 
funds  so  raised  were  actually  used  to  this  end. 

DEMORALIZATION    WROUGHT    BY    GOVERNING    FOR    THE 
BENEFIT   OF   SPECIAL   INTERESTS 

In  connection  with  this  matter  we  should  not  over- 
look the  fact  that  the  United  States  Government  is 
to-day  prosecuting  in  equity  and  in  law  the  various 
trusts  of  the  United  States,  numbering  several  hundred, 
and  step  by  step  and  day  by  day  the  courts  are  declar- 
ing these  trusts  have  been  organized,  conducted  and 
administered  in  violation  of  law  and  in  contempt  of  the 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  339 

statute  passed  to  protect  the  people  against  them,  and 
these  findings  by  the  courts  involve  a  finding  that  each 
one  of  the  directors  of  these  great  corporations  is  guilty 
of  a  crime  against  the  United  States.  It  may  be  pleas- 
ing to  some  thoughtless  Americans  that  our  millionaires 
and  multimillionaires  are  guilty  of  penitentiary  offences, 
and  there  may  be  in  their  hearts  the  hope  that  they 
will  ultimately  reap  the  fruits  of  their  sowing,  but  one 
who  is  studying  his  country  and  its  development,  with 
the  hope  of  finding  in  it  the  prospect  of  betterment, 
cannot  but  feel  a  sense  of  humiliation  to  learn  that 
the  great  captains  of  industry,  those  whom  we  have 
exploited  and  paraded  and  honored  and  glorified  and 
worshipped,  should,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  belong  to  the 
criminal  classes.  Rockefeller  and  Carnegie  and  Mor- 
gan and  Duke  and  thousands  of  others  —  leading  men, 
great  financiers,  known  throughout  the  world,  parading 
as  representative  Americans,  envied  of  us  —  to-day 
occupy  the  position  of  being  and  belonging  to  the  class 
of  men  who  violate  law  and  are  subject  to  wear  prison 
stripes.  And  this  result  is  the  outcome,  the  inevitable, 
certain  and  unavoidable  outcome  of  the  doctrine  of 
protection!  If  the  Government  does  owe  these  men  a 
living,  if  it  does  owe  them  a  profit,  if  the  Senators  and 
Representatives  in  Congress  are  under  obligations  to 
legislate  for  them,  if  they  have  a  right  to  have  the  laws 
so  framed  as  to  take  money  out  of  our  pockets  and 
transfer  it  to  theirs,  is  it  any  wonder  that  they,  with  the 
years,  become  more  and  more  exacting,  and  more  hasty, 
and  more  anxious,  and  more  determined  to  grow  rich 
with  certainty,  and  with  rapidity,  and  to  treat  the 
Government  and  all  its  functions  as  belonging  to  them, 


340  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

and  its  laws  to  be  disregarded  by  them  whenever  these 
plans  stand  in  the  way  of  rapid  wealth?  We  have  fed 
and  clothed  and  pampered  and  paid  them  until  they 
hold  us  in  that  contempt  which  ever  precedes  the  vio- 
lation of  the  law  on  the  part  of  the  strong.  And  it  is 
this  feeling  which  made  actual  thieves  out  of  the  sugar 
trust  and  put  them  into  the  contemptible  business  of 
loading  their  balances  so  as  to  under-weigh  the  sugar 
imported  into  this  country  and  thereby  to  avoid  the 
payment  of  the  very  tax  which  in  some  degree  was 
levied  for  this  trust's  own  benefit. 

JUSTICE     TO    ALL,    NOT    SPECIAL    FAVORS,    IS    THE 

laborer's  HOPE 

Government  cannot  make  it  possible  for  the  few  to 
make  millions  of  dollars  by  the  operation  of  its  tax  laws 
and  not  corrupt  these  few.  The  millions  which  they 
can  make  if  the  tax  laws  suit  them  will  be  used  in  part 
to  secure  Representatives  and  Senators  who  will  pass 
such  laws  as  the  favorites  may  want,  and  when  so  used 
the  protected  magnates  and  the  representatives  of  the 
people  have  both  become  corrupt,  and,  in  turn,  in  order 
to  shield  themselves,  to  quiet  the  people  and  to  make 
their  evil  acts  appear  good,  they  have  often  subsidized 
the  press,  misled  public  opinion  and  crucified  the  honest 
advocates  of  public  virtue  upon  the  cross  of  contempt. 
And  all  of  this  for  all  these  years  has  been  going  on  and 
has  been  accomplished  in  the  name  of  protection  to  the 
American  workingman! 

I  want  to  say  here  and  now,  and  I  want  it  remem- 
bered, that  the  poor  men  who  labor,  the  men  who  have 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  341 

not  the  means  of  creating  public  opinion,  of  compelling 
government  favoritism,  can  never  secure  justice 
through  advocacy  of  special  privilege.  Every  dollar 
of  this  dishonest  wealth  is  the  result  of  the  sweat  of  the 
laboring  men  of  the  United  States  and  has  been  appro- 
priated by  these  few  men  by  the  operation  of  laws 
fastened  upon  the  country  under  the  false  and  pre- 
posterous plea  that  it  would  eventuate  in  justice  to  the 
needy.  Favoritism  is  always  extended  to  those  who 
do  not  need  it.  Special  privilege  always  belongs  to  the 
few,  and  in  the  nature  of  the  case  cannot  belong  to  the 
many.  One  of  the  old  Latin  poets,  more  than  two 
thousand  years  ago,  animadverted  to  the  fact  that 
apples  are  always  given  to  those  who  have  orchards; 
and  human  nature  has  not  changed  from  that  day  to 
this.  No  worker,  no  toiler,  no  man  who  sweats  out  his 
daily  bread,  can  ever  hope  to  secure  justice  through 
governmental  favoritism.  His  only  hope  for  equality 
is  in  the  everlasting  cry  for  justice,  "Equal  rights  to  all, 
special  privilege  to  none."  There  are  among  us  those 
who  seek  to  remedy  the  admitted  evils  of  the  present 
by  securing  special  favors  for  the  weak,  but  every  favor 
which  we  gain  for  the  weak,  whether  to  persons,  to 
States  or  to  sections,  will  have  to  be  paid  for  by  further 
favors  and  greater  favors  to  those  who  are  already 
strong.  We  shall  never  win  righteousness  by  joining 
in  the  cry  of  Senator  Tillman,  wrung  from  him  by  his 
strong  sense  of  the  hot  injustice  being  perpetrated  by 
the  United  States  under  the  form  of  law,  "If  you  will 
steal  give  me  my  share,"  but  everywhere  and  always, 
in  season  and  out  of  season,  let  us  change  this  cry  of 
despair  into  a  shout  of  heroic  virtue,  "We  will  have 


342  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

justice  and  equality  by  the  abolition  of  all  special 
privilege." 

A   LIBEL   UPON   AMERICAN   LABOR 

The  Republican  party  has  always  insisted  that  the 
protective  tariff  is  essential  in  order  to  equalize  wages 
paid  in  the  United  States  with  those  paid  elsewhere. 
This  assumption  is  based  upon  the  idea  that  the  Ameri- 
can workingman  is  not  only  paid  more  per  day  than 
the  foreign  workingman,  but  that  he  is  paid  more  per 
output  —  that  is  to  say,  that  he  is  less  efficient  in  pro- 
portion to  his  wages  than  his  foreign  competitor.  I 
deny  the  truthfulness  of  this  assumption  and  I  stand 
here  as  the  friend  and  champion  of  American  labor  to 
assert  that  the  high  wages  of  American  workingmen  as 
compared  with  the  wages  of  foreigners  are  not  due  to 
favoritism  shown  by  the  American  Government  to 
employees  and  to  American  workingmen,  but  are  the 
direct  result  and  outcome  of  our  labor's  greater  effi- 
ciency. The  American  workingman  is  paid  more  per 
day  than  the  foreigner  but  his  product,  day  by  day  and 
man  for  man,  more  than  compensates  his  employer  for 
the  difference  in  wages.  This  is  not  only  true  as  a 
historical  fact,  but  it  is  true  from  the  pure  reason  of  the 
thing.  All  wages  have  to  be  paid  in  the  last  analysis 
out  of  production,  and  high  wages  cannot  be  paid  out  of 
a  small  production,  for  any  length  of  time  without  the 
utter  destruction  of  the  business  in  which  they  are 
employed.  Not  only  must  labor  produce  all  the  wage 
which  it  earns,  but  in  order  to  be  continually  employed 
it  must  produce  a  profit  to  the  employers  over  and 
above  the  earned  wage,  and  the  higher  paid  American 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  343 

laborer  does  produce  this  profit  for  his  employer  over 
and  above  any  wage  paid  to  him,  and  if  he  did  not  the 
employer  could  not  continue  in  business. 

Moreover,  the  doctrine  of  universal  education  has 
become  an  accepted  fact  throughout  the  civilized 
world.  This  doctrine  carries  with  it  the  education  of 
the  hand  as  well  as  of  the  mind.  It  develops  initiative 
and  inventive  skill  and  efficiency.  Higher  wages  tend 
directly  to  the  increased  education  of  each  succeeding 
generation,  and,  therefore,  to  the  increased  skill  and 
efficiency  of  each  succeeding  generation  of  workers.  It 
is  a  fact  also  that  men  who  are  well  fed,  well  clothed, 
and  well  housed  are  more  capable  and  efficient  workers 
than  those  inadequately  fed,  clothed  and  housed, 
since  wages  are  essential  to  good  living  they  increase 
thereby  the  efficiency  of  the  men  who  enjoy  them. 

LABOR   OWES   NOTHING   TO    PROTECTION 

To  say  that  the  American  workingman  produces 
less  in  proportion  to  his  wage  than  the  foreigner  is  an 
outrageous  assault  upon  his  capacity,  his  fitness,  his 
training,  and  it  is  not  the  truth.  It  has  been  invented 
by  the  Republican  party  in  order  to  hide  behind  the 
pretense  of  kindliness  toward  the  workingman  and  from 
this  hidden  and  cowardly  retreat  to  levy  blackmail 
upon  every  consumer.  The  American  workingman 
asks  no  favor.  He  insists  upon  no  special  privilege, 
but  given  a  legal  opportunity  and  a  fair  chance  in 
life,  he  will  work  out  his  own  destiny  and  thank  no  man 
for  charity  or  patronage.  For  my  part  I  am  tired  of  the 
assumption  of  the  protected  industries  in  the  United 


344  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

States  that  they  are  eleemosynary  institutions  created 
by  the  Government  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  from 
unwilling  consumers  tribute  to  be  paid  by  them  to 
workingmen  for  labor  which  the  manufacturer  insists 
that  the  workingman  does  not  perform  as  efficiently 
as  it  is  done  elsewhere.  If  the  workingman  is  as 
efficient  as  elsewhere  and  more  efficient,  then  he 
earns  his  higher  wage  and  is  entitled  to  it  as  a 
matter  of  right  and  owes  no  obligation  to  any  pro- 
tected industry  or  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  for  the  blessings  which  come  out  of  his  skill 
and  efficiency. 

I  want  to  see  the  industries  of  North  Carolina 
developed,  I  want  to  see  them  multiplied  in  number.  I 
want  to  see  competition  among  employers  for  labor  and 
I  want  to  see  labor  trained,  educated,  developed,  made 
more  efficient,  and  with  increased  efficiency  I  want  to 
see  increased  wages,  and  above  all  I  want  to  see  every 
man  feeling  himself  a  free  and  independent  citizen, 
owning  his  own  soul  and  realizing  that  he  is  earning  his 
bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  and  is  not  thankful  to 
any  one  for  alleged  favors  done  in  his  behalf.  Let  us 
break  off  the  fetters  of  commerce  and  give  her  a  free 
opportunity  to  grow;  let  us  be  done  with  the  foolish- 
ness of  Republican  apprehension  that  with  lower 
tariff  taxes  our  country  will  be  flooded  with  cheap 
foreign  goods.  The  very  moment  that  our  imports 
increase  our  exports  will  increase.  If  more  goods 
are  brought  into  the  country  they  will  be  paid  for 
by  more  goods  shipped  out  of  the  country.  If  we 
are  flooded  with  foreign  goods  we  will  flood  foreign 
countries  with  our  goods. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK      345 

THE  SOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUTH's  COTTON  PROBLEM 

I  have  read  during  the  past  fall  and  winter  the 
appeals  of  Southern  Governors,  the  chambers  of  com- 
merce, of  agricultural  societies  and  farmers'  unions,  of 
bankers  and  business  men,  urging  the  farmers  of  the 
South  to  lessen  the  production  of  cotton;  and  side  by 
side  with  these  appeals  I  have  read  in  the  papers  of  the 
terrible  suffering  of  men  throughout  the  world  for  the 
want  of  adequate  clothing.  I  have  known  and  all  of  us 
have  known  despite  our  increased  production  of  cotton 
that  the  world  is  not  yet  adequately  clad.  Thousands 
of  people  die  annually  for  want  of  the  very  raiment  to 
be  made  out  of  cotton,  the  production  of  which  we  are 
seeking  to  lessen.  I  have  realized  that  we  must  indeed 
lessen  our  production  of  cotton  or  impoverish  ourselves 
in  cultivation  under  existing  conditions,  and  this  has 
brought  me  to  the  knowledge  that  these  conditions  are 
wrong,  for  God  has  given  to  each  of  us  the  instinct  to 
make  two  bales  of  cotton  grow  where  one  grew  before, 
and  we  are  educating  our  farmer  boys  with  this  aim  in 
view,  that  they  shall  produce  more  and  more  each  year 
than  their  fathers  produced  before  them.  But  how  can 
they  work  out  this  God-given  instinct  and  how  shall  our 
teaching  be  other  than  a  failure  if  we  shut  our  cotton 
within  the  borders  of  the  United  States  by  building  up  a 
tariff  wall  against  the  products  of  other  countries? 
Foreign  trade  is  but  an  exchange  of  products  and  is  not 
and  cannot  be  paid  for  in  gold.  The  cotton  crop  alone 
would  take  for  its  purchase  all  the  gold  in  the  world  in 
a  very  few  years.  No,  my  countrymen,  let  us  cease  this 
folly.     Let  us  break  down  these  high  walls  of  protection 


346  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

built  around  us  for  the  sake  of  monopoly;  let  us  turn  in 
the  foreign  goods  of  which  our  Republican  brethren  are 
so  much  afraid.  Then  we  will  see  a  demand  for  high 
prices  and  for  more  cotton  than  you  can  possibly  pro- 
duce, and  the  God-planted  instinct  of  every  man  to 
create  more  and  more  will  find  its  full  play  and  our 
agricultural  education  will  cease  to  be  a  humbug  and  a 
farce.  Why  shall  we  teach  how  to  grow  more  and  then 
combine  to  prevent  the  growth  of  more?  I  admit  our 
present  need  along  this  line.  I  admit  the  absolute 
wisdom  at  this  moment  of  lessening  the  cotton  pro- 
duction, but  I  deny  the  sense,  the  morality,  of  continu- 
ing the  conditions  which  have  forced  this  necessity 
upon  us. 

A   TARIFF   PLATFORM 

I  conclude  my  observations  on  the  tariff  with  the 
succinct  statement  of  my  view  as  to  how  the  matter 
should  be  dealt  with : 

1.  I  am  in  favor  of  a  tariff  for  revenue  only. 

2.  Such  tariff  to  be  levied 

(a)  On  luxuries. 

(b)  On  comforts. 

(c)  And  only  as  a  last  resort  on  necessaries. 

3.  Such  tariff  to  bear  equally  upon  all  productive 
energy,  whether  engaged  in  agriculture,  mining,  or 
manufacturing. 

4.  Such  tariff  to  bear  equally  upon  every  section  of 
the  country.  And  under  this  head  I  would  observe  that 
I  do  not  believe  in  protection  for  New  England  and  free 
trade  for  North  Carolina,  but  a  tariff  for  revenue  only, 
applicable  alike  to  both   sections.     I  would  not  be 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  347 

guilty  of  the  quixotic  folly  of  compelling  my  own  people 
to  bear  an  unequal  proportion  of  the  burdens  of  the 
maintenance  of  government,  nor  would  I  on  the  other 
hand  exact  one  cent  of  tribute  from  any  other  section  of 
the  country  in  order  that  my  own  State  and  the  South, 
which  I  love  with  my  whole  heart,  should  prosper  at 
the  expense  of  others. 

5.  I  agree  with  Gov.  Woodrow  Wilson  that  we  are 
to  act  upon  the  general  principle  of  the  Democratic 
party,  not  free  trade,  but  tariff  for  revenue,  and  we  must 
approach  that  by  such  avenues,  such  steps,  and  at  such 
a  pace  as  will  be  consistent  with  the  stability  and  safety 
of  the  business  of  the  country.  And  I  agree  with  him 
again  when  he  says:  "The  tariff  is  the  one  central  issue 
of  the  coming  campaign.  It  is  at  the  head  of  every 
other  economic  question  we  have  to  deal  with,  and 
until  we  have  adjusted  that  properly  we  can  settle 
nothing  in  a  way  that  will  be  lasting  and  satisfactory. " 
Similarly,  Gov.  Judson  Harmon  has  well  said,  "The 
tariff  is  the  dominating  issue  before  the  people,"  and 
Mr.  Oscar  Underwood,  "There  is  no  other  issue  before 
the  American  people  of  so  vast  importance. " 

For  this  reason  I  would  not  create  division  in  the 
Democratic  party  upon  questions  like  the  initiative, 
referendum  and  recall,  valuable  as  these  agents  are 
regarded  by  so  many  people  as  the  means  of  securing  an 
adequate  expression  of  the  real  will  of  the  people. 
Believing,  as  I  do,  that  the  tariff  is  the  vital  issue  of  the 
coming  campaign,  and  that,  in  order  to  work  out  the 
political  redemption,  the  economic  advancement,  and 
the  moral  revolution  of  the  American  people,  it  is 
essential  to  restore  our  tax  laws  to  a  constitutional  basis, 


348  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

I  cannot  join  in  any  assault  upon  any  man  who  has 
heretofore  professed  to  be  a  Democrat  and  who  will, 
during  the  pending  campaign  for  righteousness,  abide 
by  the  declarations  of  the  Democratic  party  upon  this 
great  and  overwhelming  question.  We  have  not  too 
many  Democrats,  but  too  few,  and,  for  my  part,  I  am 
willing  to  allow  much  divergence  of  opinion  on  many 
subjects  in  order  to  have  this  great  party  to  which  you 
and  I  belong  united  on  this  one  vital  and  everlasting 
issue:  The  right  of  the  people  to  be  freed  from  exploi- 
tation by  means  of  tax  laws  by  special  interests. 

WHY   MONOPOLIES   MUST   BE   BROKEN   UP 

While  I  am  on  the  subject  of  trusts  and  monopoly, 
let  me  say  that  there  are  many  men  as  earnestly 
desirous  as  we  are  of  correcting  the  inequalities  and 
injustices  of  life,  and  of  breaking  down  the  instrumen- 
talities which  have  brought  about  these  inequalities  and 
injustices,  who  honestly  believe  that  the  trust  is  a  pub- 
lic benefit  and  needs  only  to  be  restrained  by  law  and 
made  to  conform  to  the  necessities  of  the  public  and  not 
destroyed.  They  have  arrived  at  this  conclusion  by 
reason  of  the  very  general  feeling  that  great  establish- 
ments are  more  efficient  and  can  produce  more  eco- 
nomically than  small  ones,  and  are,  therefore,  capable 
of  paying  higher  prices  for  raw  material  at  a  less  cost. 
This  belief  has  been  so  general  and  so  strong  that  it  has 
given  the  American  people  pause  in  dealing  with  this 
question.  If  it  were  true,  as  is  generally  believed,  that 
efficiency  and  therefore  economy  of  production  is 
attained  by  volume  of  business,  there  would  be  much 
ground  for  hesitancy  about  the  destruction  of  the  trusts. 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  349 

But  fortunately  at  this  juncture,  Mr.  Brandeis,  of 
Boston,  in  his  evidence  before  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Committee  of  the  Senate  has  demonstrated  beyond  all 
peradventure  that  at  this  very  point  the  trust  fails 
instead  of  succeeds.  The  highest  efficiency  of  pro- 
duction and  the  greatest  economy  attainable  are  to  be 
found  not  in  the  gigantic  plants,  but  in  the  reasonably 
small  ones.  Efficiency  is  due  to  the  cooperation  of 
every  man  engaged  in  the  production,  and  this  coop- 
eration is  largely  dependent  upon  the  esprit  de  corps 
which  is  developed,  so  that  each  worker  in  his  depart- 
ment is  necessary  to  every  worker  in  every  other 
department,  and  when  the  heads  of  these  departments 
are  in  direct  contact  with  all  the  men,  and  when  each 
man  feels  that  the  business  is  his  own.  When  the  busi- 
ness grows  beyond  this  point  and  the  men  become  units 
instead  of  individuals  and  are  counted  by  numbers 
instead  of  by  names,  inefficiency  creeps  in  and  expenses 
increase  in  the  various  departments.  The  only  way  to 
secure  the  highest  efficiency  and  the  greatest  economy 
is  by  a  large  number  of  plants  under  separate  and  inde- 
pendent conduct,  each  one  striving  to  the  utmost  limit 
with  the  power  of  every  individual  in  its  employment 
to  outdo  the  others. 

TRUST   PRODUCTION   IS   UNECONOMIC 

This  fact  when  laid  before  the  public  is  so  patent,  and 
can  be  shown  to  be  true  by  so  many  illustrations,  that 
it  is  wonderful  it  should  not  have  been  known  before. 
Senator  Clapp,  who  has  given  much  study  to  this 
subject,  in  a  recent  interview  in  the  Saturday  Evening 
Post,  elaborates   this  view  and   illustrates  it  with  a 


350  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

power  of  expression  well  worth  the  attention  of  every 
thoughtful  man.  The  trusts  and  monopolies  of  the 
country,  therefore,  are  not  to  be  regulated,  but  are  to  be 
divided  into  their  constituent  parts  and  compelled  to 
remain  separate  and  competitive  forces  in  the  economic 
world  before  we  can  attain  to  the  highest  development. 
With  the  destruction  of  the  trusts  and  the  upbuilding 
of  numbers  of  smaller  corporations,  the  demand  for 
raw  material  will  be  increased,  the  efficiency  of  the 
workers  multiplied,  and  the  selling  price  of  goods 
reduced.  Instead  of  the  few  great  controlling,  domina- 
ting, overwhelming  manufacturing  plants,  we  shall  have 
a  great  number  of  separate,  independent,  active,  live, 
competing  organizations,  and  with  the  coming  of  this 
day  the  old-fashioned  loyalty,  which  was  the  charm  of 
service  in  the  former  days,  will  be  restored. 

This  is  not  only  true  theoretically,  but  our  past 
experience  has  proved  it  to  be  true.  The  great  trusts 
are  not  selling  their  products  as  cheap  as  they  were  sold 
by  the  independent  organizations  which  the  trusts  have 
succeeded,  and  the  trusts  are  not  producing  the  prod- 
ucts either  as  cheaply  or  making  them  as  good  as  they 
were  before.  This  fact  can  be  demonstrated  by  a 
simple  exchange  of  dollars  across  the  counter  of  your 
retailer  for  the  goods  he  will  deliver  to  you,  and  then 
comparing  them  with  what  you  would  have  paid  for 
the  same  quality  of  goods  before  the  advent  of  the 
trusts.  So  I  conclude  on  this  subject  that  the  trusts  are 
not  to  be  regulated  but  destroyed  and  supplanted  by 
the  old-time  organization,  willing  to  fight,  to  work,  to 
struggle,  to  invent,  to  discover,  and  to  initiate,  willing 
and  able  to  compete  and  actually  competing  for  the 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  351 

business  of  the  world,  asking  no  favor,  paying  for  no 
special  privilege,  and  eternally  opposed  to  conferring 
special  benefits  upon  others. 

INCOME   TAX   FAVORED 

Again,  I  am  in  favor  of  an  income  tax.  One  of  the 
great  curses  of  this  hour  is  the  extravagance  of  the 
national  Government.  Extravagance  is  like  a  con- 
tagious disease  —  it  spreads  outward  from  the  source  of 
infection.  As  the  government  is,  so  are  the  people.  A 
wasteful,  reckless  and  extravagant  government  always 
creates  a  wasteful,  reckless  and  extravagant  people. 
This  Government  of  ours  has  become  the  most  extrava- 
gant upon  earth.  It  has  more  than  doubled  its  own 
expenditures  since  the  administration  of  Grover  Cleve- 
land. The  per  capita  expenditures  have  gone  up  from 
about  $7  to  about  $12.  It  now  costs  about  $60  per 
household  to  run  the  United  States  Government.  No 
scheme  is  too  wild,  no  expenditures  too  great,  to 
rally  around  it  the  support  of  the  United  States 
Congress.  The  taxes  collected  are  indirect,  the  people 
taking  no  note  as  they  pay  them  of  the  fact  of  pay- 
ment or  of  the  amount,  and  since  the  great  bulk  of 
these  taxes  come  out  of  the  multitude  and  a  very  little 
of  them  come  out  of  the  few  who  have  vast  wealth, 
those  who  have  the  wealth  have  less  loss  in  the  amount 
of  taxes  which  they  pay  than  they  have  profit  in  the 
expenditures  of  the  Government.  The  rich,  therefore, 
are  on  the  side  of  extravagance.  They  do  not  care  how 
much  the  Government  spends.  They  are  always  in 
favor  of  more  offices  and  higher  salaries.     You  can  rely 


352  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

upon  them  confidently  to  advocate  every  new  scheme 
of  the  Government  and  to  insist  upon  the  rightfulness  of 
every  national  enterprise  leading  to  larger  expenditures. 
They  know  that  their  part  in  the  burden  is  small,  and 
their  opportunity  of  gaining  other  wealth  by  reason  of 
the  tax  laws  is  great,  and  the  rich  and  strong  are  always 
closer  to  government  than  the  poor  and  weak.  The 
laborer  on  the  farm,  the  worker  in  the  factory,  the 
mechanic  in  his  shop,  the  clerk  in  the  store,  the  workers 
in  the  banks,  do  not  go  to  Washington.  Their  acquaint- 
ance with  Senators  and  Congressmen  is  limited.  Their 
influence,  if  united,  might  be  great,  but  they  are  never 
united:  they  are  too  busy  with  their  own  problems 
of  bread  and  meat.  But  the  strong,  the  rich,  the 
powerful,  the  magnates,  the  captains  of  industry,  the 
mighty  men  of  the  nation,  these  can  be  found  at  all 
seasons  of  the  year  in  and  around  Washington  when 
Congress  is  in  session.  They  know  every  Senator  and 
every  Representative.  They  know  by  what  majority 
he  was  elected  and  they  know  the  apprehensions  which 
each  has  about  his  ability  to  get  back,  and  they  are  in 
position  to  help  or  hinder  him.  Whatever  enterprises 
they  want  set  afoot,  whatever  enormous  expenditures 
they  want  made,  are  presented  to  the  representatives 
of  the  people  in  Washington  in  the  most  glowing  terms; 
the  benefits  are  pointed  out  in  a  fashion  captivating, 
overwhelming,  convincing.  The  burdens  are  to  be 
met  by  some  small  change  in  the  tax  laws,  reaching 
the  many,  but  reaching  them  in  such  a  fashion  that 
they  will  take  no  notice  of  it.  Thus,  one  after  another, 
our  Government  takes  up  new  schemes,  new  enter- 
prises, and  increases  year  by  year  the  annual  expendi- 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  353 

ture  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  increase  in  population 
and  wealth. 

HOW    THE    INCOME    TAX   WILL    PROMOTE    ECONOMY   AND 
JUSTICE 

And  this  will  always  be  true  until  the  rich  are  made 
to  bear  their  part  of  the  burden  of  increased  expendi- 
tures. Wherever  we  shall  have  passed  and  put  into 
operation  an  income  tax  taking  from  those  of  large 
incomes  a  reasonable  sum  for  the  expenditures  of  the 
Government,  the  rich  will  then  become  burden-bearers 
for  the  Government,  and,  at  the  same  instant,  they  will 
become  intense,  active,  effective  advocates  of  economy. 
They  can  compel  economy,  and  whenever  they  realize 
that  extravagance  is  to  be  met  by  an  increase  in  their 
income  tax,  they  will  compel  it.  The  simplest  and 
most  direct  way  to  make  a  rich  man  an  advocate  of 
economy  in  government  is  to  make  him  feel  that 
extravagance  costs  him  some  money,  and  when  he 
realizes  this  you  will  hear  from  him,  through  the  press, 
in  magazines  and  in  books.  You  will  hear  him  depre- 
cating not  only  the  high  cost  of  living,  but  the  cost  of 
high  living.  He  will  be  clamoring  for  a  return  to  the 
ways  of  the  fathers.  He  will  be  insistent  for  economy 
—  and  his  voice  is  so  potent  that  it  will  be  heard 
throughout  the  nation. 

I  am  in  favor  of  an  income  tax,  not  only  for  the 
reasons  just  set  out,  but  for  the  further  reason  that  the 
tariff  tax,  and,  indeed,  our  internal  revenue  taxes,  are 
taxes  upon  consumption  and  therefore  fall  unequally 
upon  the  rich  and  the  poor,  bearing  most  heavily  upon 
the  poor.     As  a  compensation  for  this  inequality,  I 


354  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

would  have  an  income  tax  reaching  the  rich  alone,  and 
thereby  shift  to  their  shoulders  some  of  the  weight  that 
for  all  these  years  has  borne  so  mercilessly  upon  the 
shoulders  of  those  least  able  to  bear  it. 

UNFAIR    FREIGHT    DISCRIMINATION    AGAINST    NORTH 
CAROLINA 

While  on  the  subject  of  equality,  it  is  certainly 
appropriate  that  I  should  make  some  mention  of  the 
gross  injustice  done  by  the  interstate  commerce  rail- 
roads in  their  freight  rates  to  and  from  North  Carolina. 
The  difference  between  the  rates  to  cities  in  Virginia 
and  cities  in  North  Carolina  is  so  gross  and  outrageous 
as  to  challenge  the  attention  and  arouse  the  indignation 
of  every  fair-minded  man  to  whom  they  are  represented, 
and  we  can  never  change  these  conditions  by  seeking 
favors.  We  are  too  few  in  numbers  and  too  poor  in 
commerce  ever  to  hope  that  we  shall  gain  the  grace 
and  good  will  of  the  interstate  railroads.  The  only 
ground  upon  which  we  can  hope  for  a  redress  of  our 
grievances  is  upon  the  everlasting  insistence  of  the 
justice  of  our  cause.  We  should  perpetually  assault 
this  outrageous  inequality  and  never  cease  to  demand 
rightful  treatment  until  our  clamor  shall  have  aroused 
a  recognition  in  the  nation  which  will  compel  justice. 
A  small  population  and  a  small  commerce  can  never 
hope  to  prevail  with  the  entrenched  power  and  unfair- 
ness of  the  railroads  and  of  the  cities  benefited  by  their 
injustice,  but  even  small  numbers  and  a  small  com- 
merce can  by  insistence  upon  justice  add  to  their  weak- 
ness the  power  of  the  God  who  declared  that  He  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,  and  in  this  combination  there  can 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  355 

be  no  defeat.  I  promise  the  people  of  North  Carolina 
if  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  —  and  I  believe 
I  shall  be  —  to  spend  so  much  of  my  time  as  may  be 
necessary  during  the  six  years  of  my  incumbency  of 
office  in  bringing  about  a  change  in  this  condition, 
either  by  seeing  that  the  law  as  it  stands  is  enforced,  or 
if  the  law  is  inadequate,  by  securing  the  enactment  of 
one  which  will  compel  for  us  the  righteousness  to  which 
we  are  entitled  and  of  which  we  have  been  denied 
through  all  these  years. 

ELECTION  OF  SENATORS  BY  THE  PEOPLE 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  election  of  United  States  Senators 
by  the  people,  and  when  I  say  by  the  people  I  mean  by 
the  people  and  not  by  money,  not  by  organization,  not 
by  machinery.  In  a  recent  issue  of  the  Charlotte 
Observer  the  editor  declared  that  in  the  coming  Sena- 
torial contest,  while  my  fitness  for  the  place  was 
acknowledged  and  the  love  of  the  people  for  me 
recognized,  I  could  not  be  elected  for  the  reason  that  I 
am  without  money,  without  organization,  and  without 
machinery.  This  prediction,  when  it  first  appeared, 
startled  and  frightened  many  of  my  friends.  It  had  no 
such  effect  upon  me.  I  did  not  want  to  be  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate  by  money,  by  machinery, 
and  by  organization.  If  I  were  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate  by  money,  by  machinery,  and  by  organi- 
zation —  if  I  were  elected  by  these  means,  I  should 
glorify  and  honor  the  means  which  elected  me.  My 
father  taught  me  that  the  rungs  of  the  ladder  on  which 
I  rise  should  be  honored  by  me.  If  I  rise  on  the  rungs 
of  wealth,  organization  and  machinery,  I  know  myself 


356  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

well  enough  to  realize  that  I  should  count  my  obligation 
in  the  Senate  to  these  things.  But  if  I  go  to  the  Senate 
as  the  untrammeled  choice  of  the  people  of  North 
Carolina,  to  them  I  shall  owe  the  honor  and  to  them  shall 
be  dedicated  all  the  service  of  my  heart  and  mind  and 
body,  under  God,  to  the  perfection  of  our  Government 
and  to  the  betterment  of  the  conditions  of  mankind. 

The  Charlotte  Observer  is  mistaken.  It  may  be  true 
in  some  of  the  Northern  and  Western  States  that  a 
man  must  be  rich  before  he  can  go  to  the  Senate.  It 
may  be  true  in  Pennsylvania  that  he  cannot  go  without 
the  assent  of  the  machine.  It  may  be  true  in  New  York 
that  organization  is  essential  to  the  success  of  any 
candidate  for  office.  But  in  North  Carolina  the  people, 
who  have  been  clamoring  for  the  right  to  elect  their 
own  Senators,  will  not  dishonor  their  own  demand  by 
suffering  an  election  to  turn  upon  false  and  corrupting 
things. 

THE   MENACE   OF   MONEY   IN    POLITICS 

Apart  from  any  personal  interest  which  I  feel  in  this 
matter,  I  want  to  say  to  all  North  Carolinians  that  the 
test  of  the  benefit  of  popular  election  of  United  States 
Senators  is  to  be  found  in  the  power  of  the  people  to 
select  their  own  Senators  without  cost  and  without 
dictation  from  machinery  or  organization.  I  regard 
this  as  of  so  great  moment  that  I  now  deliberately 
declare  that  not  only  shall  I  not  use  money  in  this  cam- 
paign beyond  the  very  limited  sum  necessary,  but  I 
do  not  want  my  friends  to  use  money  in  my  behalf.  I 
expect  them  to  give  their  time  and  service  to  the.proper 
presentation  of  my  candidacy  to  the  people,  a  task 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  357 

which  I  have  always  gladly  rendered  to  those  whom  I 
supported  as  freely  as  I  breathed  the  air.  It  will  be  an 
evil  day  for  this  good  State  of  ours  when  the  prediction 
of  the  Charlotte  Observer  shall  have  become  the  history 
of  the  State.  The  great  curse  of  this  hour  is  the  mad 
scramble  after  wealth,  corrupting,  destroying,  under- 
mining the  morals  of  the  country,  and  if  to  the  things 
which  wealth  can  purchase  shall  be  added  the  honors 
which  the  people  alone  ought  to  bestow,  the  scramble 
after  wealth  will  become  a  carnival  of  crime.  A  recent 
writer  has  truly  said:  "Historians  know  that  the  critical 
hour  for  every  Carthage  and  Ephesus,  every  Athens 
and  Rome,  every  Berlin  and  Paris,  every  London  and 
New  York,  comes  when  avarice  of  money  and  business 
interests  select  the  legislatures  that  make  laws,  the 
judges  who  interpret  laws,  and  the  rulers  who  execute 
laws,  conceived  in  selfishness  and  interpreted  by 
cupidity.  The  decline  of  every  nation  and  every  city 
has  begun  with  avarice  and  commercial  interests 
administering  the  government  for  the  powerful  and 
avaricious  few." 

Yes,  I  am  without  power  and  without  wealth,  with- 
out organization  and  without  machinery,  but  I  am  not 
poor  and  I  am  not  helpless.  I  am  rich  in  the  love  of 
North  Carolinians  and  strong  in  their  belief  that  it  is 
my  purpose  now,  as  it  ever  has  been  in  the  past,  to  serve 
them  as  a  whole  without  being  under  obligation  to  any 
special  man  or  set  of  men.  I  would  not  have  you 
leave  this  hall  supposing  that  I  intend  to  insinuate  by 
what  I  have  said  that  the  other  candidates  differ  from 
me  in  this  respect.  I  do  not  insinuate,  I  do  not  charge 
it.    I  merely  reply  to  a  suggestion  from  a  leading  North 


358  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

Carolina  paper  giving  expression  to  what  I  have  heard 
so  often  and  from  so  many  sources  since  I  announced 
my  candidacy. 

GOVERNOR   AYCOCK's   POLITICAL  RECORD 

And  now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  am  about  to  do 
what  I  have  never  done  before.  I  am  about  to  an- 
nounce in  a  public  speech  my  candidacy  for  an  office 
before  my  party  has  chosen  me  as  its  standard  bearer. 
I  have  hesitated  long  before  deciding  to  do  this  thing. 
It  was  my  purpose  not  to  enter  this  campaign  at  all,  so 
far  as  the  presentation  of  my  candidacy  was  concerned, 
but  the  constant  assertion  on  the  part  of  the  advocates 
of  other  candidates  that  I  was  not  in  the  race,  that  I  had 
entered  it  for  ulterior  purposes,  has  made  it  incumbent 
upon  me  in  justice  to  my  own  character  and  in  fairness 
to  the  men  who  are  supporting  me,  to  announce  in  a 
public  speech  that  I  am  a  candidate  for  the  United 
States  Senate  and  expect  to  remain  one  until  chosen  or 
defeated  by  the  untrammeled  will  of  the  Democratic 
voters  of  North  Carolina. 

I  have  given  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  the 
best  years  of  my  life  and  my  hardest  work  to  the  service 
of  the  Democratic  party  in  this  State.  I  have  con- 
fined my  labors  almost  exclusively  in  that  behalf  to  this 
State  because  it  is  the  State  of  my  birth  and  in  her  soil 
my  body  will  rest  when  I  shall  have  crossed  over  the 
river,  and  I  love  her  beyond  any  part  of  this  great 
American  Union.  I  have  not  always  served  her  wisely, 
but  I  can  look  the  entire  body  of  her  people  in  the  face 
to-night  and  I  can  declare  that  I  have  ever  served  her 
zealously  and  with  no  thought  of  the  possible  effect  of 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  359 

my  course  upon  my  own  career.  I  have  held  her 
highest  office  and  under  God  I  assert  to-night  that  I 
never  said  a  word  or  did  a  deed  during  the  entire  four 
years  of  my  term  of  office  with  any  view  to  my  personal 
aggrandizement.  I  never  sought  to  build  up  a  personal 
or  factional  machine  and  I  never  endeavored  to  tie  men 
to  me  by  any  sense  of  obligation  by  reason  of  favors 
done  by  me  for  them,  for  I  did  no  man  any  favor  as 
Governor,  but  I  earnestly  sought  to  do  every  man  the 
right  of  equal  and  exact  justice. 

If  the  people  believe  this  of  me  and  want  me  to 
serve  them  further,  I  shall  be  glad.  If  they  think  that 
either  of  my  opponents  is  wiser,  better  or  more  loyal 
to  their  interests,  I  shall  bow  with  humility  to  their 
registered  will  and  come  out  of  the  contest  rejoicing 
in  the  hope  that  Government  will  be  wiser,  more 
economical  and  more  in  favor  of  the  many  than  it  has 
ever  been  heretofore,  and  anxious  still,  as  I  always  have 
been,  to  do  my  little  part,  whether  in  public  or  private 
station,  for  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  liberty 
upon  the  earth  and  the  upbuilding  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

A    TRIBUTE   TO    HIS   OPPONENTS 

If  any  of  you  have  come  here  to-night  expecting  me 
to  say  aught  against  the  other  candidates,  you  must 
leave  unsatisfied.  I  cannot  do  it.  For  more  than 
thirty  years  I  have  been  battling  in  behalf  of  Democ- 
racy against  Republicanism.  I  have  been  in  the  midst 
of  the  conflict;  sometimes  in  the  lead,  more  often  as  a 
private  soldier,  but  always  with  my  guns  trained  upon 
the  common  enemy  and  not  inflicting  wounds  upon 


360  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

those  of  the  household  of  faith.  If  I  were  to  attempt 
to  assail  Senator  Simmons,  my  memory  would  awaken 
and  I  should  recall  the  stirring  days  of  1898  and  1900, 
when  as  the  captain  of  the  mighty  hosts  of  Democracy 
he  led  us  to  single,  convincing,  and  final  victory. 
Should  I  attempt  to  say  aught  against  Governor 
Kitchin,  my  mind  would  at  once  revert  to  the  dark  days 
of  1896  when  he  fleshed  his  maiden  sword  in  the  blood  of 
the  gallant  leader  of  the  cohorts  of  Republicanism  and 
went  to  Washington  the  lone  Democratic  Congress- 
man, winning  his  great  victory  over  the  theretofore 
invincible  Thomas  Settle.  If  I  should  seek  to  assail 
Chief  Justice  Clark,  I  could  but  recall  the  many  years 
of  his  eminent  service  on  the  bench,  and  I  could  but 
reflect  that  during  all  these  years  I  have  been  steadily 
voting  for  him  and  proclaiming  to  the  people  of  North 
Carolina  that  he  was  in  every  way  fit  for  the  highest 
judicial  office  in  this  State.  These  are  the  things  which 
I  have  said  of  them  when  I  did  not  seek  office.  These 
are  the  things  which  I  shall  be  called  upon  to  say  of 
them  again,  if  in  the  wisdom  of  Democracy  they  are 
chosen  for  office  again.  I  cannot  bring  myself  in  my 
own  personal  struggle  for  advancement  to  say  things  of 
them  now  which  would  be  out  of  harmony  with  what  I 
have  heretofore  said  and  what  I  stand  ready  to  say 
once  more.  That  I  do  not  agree  with  them  in  all  things 
is  certain.  That  I  would  have  acted  differently  in  their 
places  on  many  occasions  I  am  confident.  But  that 
they  are  Democrats  and  worthy  men  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  gainsay.  We  are  about  to  enter  upon  the 
most  tremendous  conflict  of  the  ages  —  a  fight  against 
entrenched  power,  fortified  by  wealth  so  great  that  he 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  361 

who  enters  into  the  fight  in  earnest  must  be  willing  to 
risk  his  all.  In  such  a  contest  as  this  I  shall  recognize 
no  enemy  save  those  who  align  themselves  under  the 
banner  of  Republicanism.  While  we  are  seeking  to 
overturn  the  power  and  authority  of  the  cohorts  of  the 
plunderers  I  shall  not  turn  my  sword  upon  any  man 
who  is  willing  to  bear  a  gun  on  our  side. 

Have  you  forgotten  the  story  of  "Lorna  Doone"  — 
how  the  Doones,  men  of  high  family,  who  had  fallen 
under  the  displeasure  of  the  Government,  had  betaken 
themselves  to  the  Doone  Valley,  surrounded  on  all  sides 
by  precipitous  mountains,  and  from  this  strongly  forti- 
fied position  levied  their  blackmail  upon  the  surround- 
ing country,  killing  and  robbing  and  outraging  the 
people  of  the  land  until  the  citizens  were  aroused  and 
determined  to  extirpate  them?  Do  you  recall  how  the 
men  of  the  eastern  county  gathered  together  on  the 
eastern  mountain,  and  the  men  from  the  western  county 
gathered  on  the  western  mountain,  with  their  arms  and 
cannon  ready  to  fall  upon  the  Doones  and  destroy 
them,  when  by  some  untoward  accident  a  cannon  from 
the  western  ranks  was  trained  across  the  valley  and 
shot  into  the  ranks  of  the  men  of  the  east,  and  how, 
inflamed  by  this  accident,  the  men  on  the  east  trained 
their  guns  across  the  valley  into  the  ranks  of  the  men  of 
the  west,  and  while  these  foolish  people  were  slaughter- 
ing one  another,  the  Doones  sallied  forth  and  put  both 
counties  to  flight  and  continued  to  rob  and  kill  and  out- 
rage for  years  to  come. 

Let  us  heed  the  lesson,  my  countrymen!  Let 
me  say  to  Governor  Kitchin  and  Senator  Simmons 
and   Chief   Justice   Clark:   The   Doones    are   in    the 


362  THE  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES 

valley.     I  pray  you,  gentlemen,  train  your  guns  a  lit- 
tle lower. 

We  must  drive  out  the  plunderers.  We  must  con- 
quer the  common  enemy.  We  must  hold  North  Caro- 
lina in  the  Democratic  column.  We  must  secure  for 
our  children  the  blessings  of  education.  We  must 
together  work  out  better  conditions  for  our  labor  and 
for  those  who  toil.  We  must  in  conjunction  with  the 
national  Government  make  our  public  roads  both  the 
cause  and  evidence  of  our  civilization.  We  must  safe- 
guard the  suffrage  and  see  that  it  remains  where  we  put 
it  in  1900,  on  a  basis  of  intelligence. 

THE    THINGS    IN    WHICH    NORTH    CAROLINA    IS    MAKING 
PROGRESS 

We  have  indeed  gone  far  in  North  Carolina.  A 
recent  writer  has  declared  that  the  progress  of  a  State 
may  be  determined  by  the  things  which  are  now  done 
as  a  matter  of  course  which  used  to  be  the  subject  of 
debate.  Tested  by  this  standard  North  Carolina  has 
advanced  rapidly  under  Democratic  rule.  The  right  of 
every  child  to  a  public  school  education  is  no  longer  a 
subject  of  controversy  but  is  acknowledged  by  every 
one.  The  duty  and  wisdom  of  adequate,  excellent 
public  roads  is  not  only  acknowledged  by  everybody 
but  has  recently  been  emphasized  by  the  mud  through 
which  we  have  slowly  dragged  ourselves  to  the  markets 
of  the  State.  The  right  of  children  to  be  safeguarded 
in  the  time  of  their  growth  and  development  against 
overwork  in  factories  is  a  right  which  no  one  now  dis- 
putes. The  duty  of  caring  for  the  afflicted,  whether 
due  to  age  or  infirmity,  has  been  translated  into  so 


OF  CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK  363 

beautiful  an  application  and  has  been  performed  with 
such  steadfastness  as  to  render  one  who  would  now 
deny  it  contemptible  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people. 
The  holy  obligation  of  unstopping  the  cars  of  the  deaf 
and  making  the  blind  to  see,  of  making  easy  for  the  old 
soldiers  and  their  widows  their  descent  on  the  other  side 
of  the  hill  that  leads  to  the  overflowing  river,  has 
become  the  common  heritage  of  us  all.  The  para- 
mount object  of  the  State  to  obtain  peace  and  quiet 
and  good  order  to  the  end  that  men  may  quietly  work 
out  their  own  destinies  has  been  rendered  emphatic  by 
performance.  And  no  more  does  any  one,  whatever 
may  be  his  view  about  the  efficacy  of  prohibition,  ever 
expect  to  see  again  the  dominance  of  the  barroom  and 
whiskey  still  in  the  civic  and  political  life  of  this  great 
State  of  ours. 

atcock's  farewell  to  his  people 

We  stand  a-tiptoe  on  the  misty  mountain  height  and 
see  the  morning  sun  make  purple  the  glories  of  the  east. 
We  are  entering  upon  a  new  day,  the  day  of  equality,  of 
opportunity,  the  hour  when  every  man  shall  be  free  to 
work  mightily  for  himself  until  his  soul,  filled  to  satis- 
faction, shall  overflow  with  a  common  benefit  to  man- 
kind, owing  no  tribute  to  any  one  and  bound  only  to 
love  his  fellow  man  and  serve  his  God  as  to  him  may 
seem  best. 

"May  these  things  be!" 

Sighing  she  spoke; 
"I  fear  they  will  not, 

Dear,  but  let  us  type  them  now 

In  our  own  lives, 

And  this  proud  watchword  rest, 

Of  equal." 


CHARLES  B.  AYCOCK 

Equal!  That  is  the  word!  On  that  word  I  plant 
m>  self  and  my  party  —  the  equal  right  of  every  child 
born  on  earth  to  have  the  opportunity  "to  burgeon 
out  all  that  there  is  within  him." 


THE    END 


INDEX 


Alderman,  Dr.  Edwin  A.,  22, 
23,  113,  116. 

Allen,  Col.  Win.  A.,  44. 

Allen,  Wm.  R.,  44. 

Allen,  Judge  Oliver,  166. 

Amendment,  Constitutional,  219, 
231,  287. 

Amendment,  Fifteenth,  215,  219. 

American  Tobacco  Company, 
53. 

Anderson,  Albert,  204. 

Arendell,  F.  B.,  178,  181. 

Atlantic  and  North  Carolina 
Railroad,  102,  104. 

Avery,  Erwin,  40. 

Aycock,  Benjamin,  4. 

Aycock,  Charles  B.,  ancestry, 
boyhood,  and  early  education, 
3;  birthplace  of,  8;  early  im- 
pressions, 14;  early  schooling, 
17;  at  Wilson  Collegiate  In- 
stitute, 18;  at  Kinston,  19; 
at  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina, 21;  his  fellow  students, 
23;  leadership  in  college,  25; 
election  as  chief -marshal,  27; 
foundations  on  which  he  built 
his  character,  32;  ruling  prin- 
ciples of  his  life,  33;  in  Golds- 
boro,  1898,  34;  his  integrity 
of  purpose,  36;  dominant, 
qualities,  37;  opinion  of  Gen- 
eral Lee,  40;  tribute  to  the 
Moravians,  41;  his  deeply 
religious  nature,  42;  his  Sun- 
day-school work,  43;  study  of 
law,  44;  admission  to  the  bar, 
44 ;  partnership  with  Daniels, 
44;  Strong,  Aycock,  and  Dan- 


iels, 44;  his  first  year's  income, 
46;  his  marriage,  47;  appointed 
U.  S.  District  Attorney,  47; 
elected  as  governor,  48;  part- 
nership with  Judge  Robt.  W. 
Winston,  49;  his  love  of  jus- 
tice, 53;  his  power  of  advocacy, 
57;  his  political  faith,  62; 
nominated  elector-at-large,  64; 
on  republican  rule,  68;  ad- 
dress at  Laurinburg,  70;  de- 
bate with  Hon.  Cyrus 
Thompson,  71;  nomination 
for  governor,  77;  speech  at 
Burlington,  81;  speech  at 
Waynesville,  82;  speech  at 
Shelby,  82;  speech  of  accept- 
ance, 82;  on  the  "Grandfather 
Clause,"  84;  his  guberna- 
torial campaign,  86;  elected 
governor,  89;  inaugural  ad- 
dress, 92,  117;  on  the  liquor 
traffic,  98;  executive  clemency, 
99, 174;  on  lynching  of  negroes, 
101 ;  his  influence  on  education, 
112;  his  philosophy  of  educa- 
tion, 123;  speech  before  North 
Carolina  Society  in  New  York 
City,  124;  speech  before  Manu- 
facturers' Club  of  Charlotte, 
125;  speech  before  conference 
for  education  in  the  South, 
127;  on  compulsory  school 
laws,  128;  member  Child 
Labor  Committee,  129;  New 
York  Herald  interview  on 
negro  education,  130;  address 
before  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Charlotte,  131;  ideals  of   cit- 


355 


366 


INDEX 


izenship  and  public  service, 
140;  letter  announcing  can- 
didacy for  U.  S.  Senate,  143; 
declines  invitation  to  speak 
on  arbitration  treaties,  148; 
attitude  toward  negro,  153, 
159,  170;  his  relations  to  his 
friends,  164;  his  kindness  to 
children,  167;  his  reverence 
for  women,  168,  186;  his  re- 
lations to  political  opponents, 
169;  his  charitable  nature,  171 ; 
"simplicity  and  gentleness 
and  honor  and  clean  mirth," 
177;  preference  for  simple 
fare,  181;  fondness  for  fox- 
hunting, 182;  his  favorite 
authors,  182;  as  a  Prohibi- 
tionist, 193;  on  the  tariff 
question,  194;  on  special 
privileges,  196;  his  relations 
to  his  family,  204;  his  dram- 
atic death,  206. 

Ay  cock,  Francis,  4. 

Ay  cock,  Jesse,  4. 

Ay  cock,  John,  4. 

Ay  cock,  Robert,  4. 

Aycock,  William,  3. 

Bagley,  Worth,  156. 
Ballot,  purity  of  the,  238. 
"Barnaby  Rudge,"  180. 
Battle,  Dr.  Kemp  P.,  24,  44. 
Bishop,  Miss,  4. 

Bond  claim,  Schafer  Bros.,  103. 
Brooks,   Eugene   C,    113,    137, 

186. 
Bryan,  Wm.  Jennings,  140,  148. 
Bullock,  J.  D.,  268. 
Butler,  Marion,  65. 
Butler,  Senator,  215. 

Candidacy  U.  S.  Senate,  letter 

announcing,  143. 
Charleston  Exposition,  157. 
Civil  War,  269,  270,  275. 
Clark,  Judge,  202. 
Cline,  F.  A.,  44. 


Confederate    Soldiers,    pensions 

for,  93,  96. 
Connor,  Hon.  H.  G.,  134. 
Connor,   H.   G.   Jr.,   letter   to, 

147. 
Conscript  Act,  6. 
Cotton    Problem,    solution    of, 

345. 
County     Government     System, 

213. 
Craig,  Locke,  23,  70. 
Crisp,  J.  A.,  88. 
Cunningham,  John  S.,  75. 
Cuyler,  John  P.,  108. 

Daniels,  Judge  Frank  A.,  8, 
19,  23,  44,  51,  71,  190. 

Daniels,  Josephus,  13, 19. 

Davidson,  Theodore  F.,  75. 

"Declaration  Against  Illiter- 
acy," 120. 

Democrat,  Aycock's  definition 
of  a,  62. 

Dickens,  Charles,  184. 

Dixon,  Benjamin  F.,  78,  93. 

Dixon,  Doctor,  166. 

Dortch,  Isaac  F.,  44. 

Dortch,  Hon.  Wm.  F.,  44. 

Doughton,  Rufus  A.,  23. 

Duffy,  Rodolph,  19,  44. 

Dunham-Wiggins  Debate,  16. 

Dunnaway,  M.  R.,  201. 

Education  of  children,  223, 

254,  259,  304,  333. 
Education    of  negro,   130,   132, 

258. 
Education,   universal,  316,  343. 
Elam,  Orlando,  146. 
Executive  clemency,  99. 

Faircloth,  Judge  Wm.  T.,  44. 
Fifteenth  Amendment,  215,  219. 
Finch,  K.  S.,  105. 
Finger,  Sydney  M.,  116. 
Finklestein,  Barna,  165. 
Fort,  Wiley,  181. 
Foust,   Professor  Julius  I.,   39, 
113. 


INDEX 


367 


Foxhunting,  319. 
Foy,  Rev.  Joseph  H.,  19. 
Freight  discrimination,  354. 
Fuller,  Chief  Justice,  109. 

Gilmer,  Robert  D.,  78,  93. 
Glenn,  Governor,  59,  112,  199. 
Gold,  Elder,  33. 

Government  by  freeholders,  214. 
Grainger,  H.  F.,  44. 
"Grandfather  Clause,"  The,  83. 
Grant,  Maj.  H.  L.,  216,  218. 
Grantham,  E.  B.,  147. 
Grayson,  David,  184. 
Grimes,  J.  Bryan,  78,  93. 

Hardy,  H.  B.,  164. 
Harmon,  Gov.  Judson,  347. 
Harriss  vs.  Wright,  case  of,  215. 
Harvey,  Lamb.  180. 
Hassell,  Elder  Sylvester,  18. 
Hicks,  Thurston  T.,  44. 
Hoar,  Senator,  279. 
Hooks,  Robert,  4. 
Hooks,  Serena,  4,  7. 
Hufham,  Rev.  J.  D.,  207. 

Illiteracy  decreased,  138. 
Income  tax,  351. 
Industrial  awakening,  an,  264. 
Initiative  and  referendum,  150. 
Interests,  special,  338. 

Jarvis,  Governor,  195. 
Jenkins,  John  Wilber,  150. 
Johnson,  Archibald,  33,  165. 
Johnson,  Rev.  Livingston,  37. 
Joyner,  Dr.  James  Yadkin,  23, 
37,  42,  93,  113,  121,  137,  147. 
Justice,  M.  H.,  75. 

Kilgo,  Bishop,  32,  50. 
Kipling,  Rudyard,  177. 
Kitchin,  Governor,  202. 

Lacy,  Benjamin  R.,  78,  93. 
Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E.,  155,  157, 
275,  285,  309. 


Liquor  traffic,  the,  97. 
Lynching  of  negroes,  100. 

Manning,  James  S.,  23. 

McBee,  V.  E.,  105. 

Mclver,  Dr.  Charles  Duncan, 

23,  116,  119,  206. 
McLean,  Neal  Archibald,  27. 
McMichael,  C.  O.,  199. 
Mebane,  Charles  H.,  116. 
Menace  of  negro  suffrage,  61,  73. 
Mob  law,  the  curse  of,  242. 
Money   in   politics,   menace  of, 

356. 
Monopolies     must     be     broken 

up,  348. 
Moravians,  tribute  to,  41. 
Morehead,  Governor,  112 
Murphey,  Walter,  199. 

Negro,    a    message    to    the, 

247. 
Negro,  attitude  toward  the,  153, 

159. 
Negro  education,  130,  132,  258. 
Negro  disfranchisement,  150, 

219. 
Negro  dominance,  67. 
Negro  lynching,  100. 
Negro  problem,   161. 
Negro  suffrage,  61,  73. 
Negro  vote  of  1896,  67. 
News     and      Observer,     extract 

from,  13. 
Noble,  M.  C.  S.,  23,  27. 

Olds,  Col.  Fred  A.,  180. 
O'Neal,  Governor,  206. 
Opportunity  for  all,  equal,  329. 

Pardoning    of   prisoners,  74, 

99. 
Parker,  Junius,  151. 
Parker,  W.  T.,  146. 
Patterson,  S.  L.,  166. 
Pearsall,  Col.   P.  M.,  141,  166, 

178,  179,  180. 
Pell,  Robert  P.,  23. 


368 


INDEX 


Penitentiary  self  supporting, 
102. 

Pensions  for  Confederate  Sol- 
diers, 93,  96. 

Poe,  Clarence,  208. 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  183. 

Political  conditions  during  re- 
construction, 15. 

Poll  tax,  payment  of,  223. 

Pritchard,  Judge  Jeter  C,  33, 
39. 

Pritchard,  Senator,  215,  220. 

Privilege,  special,  341. 

Public  schools,  insufficient,  115. 

Purnell,  Judge  Thomas  R.,  105. 

Race   problem,  212,  257,  262. 

Railroad  rate  case,  59. 

Receivership  Atlantic  and  North 
Carolina  Railroad,  105. 

Reconstruction  in  North  Caro- 
lina, 15. 

Reid,  Gov.  David  S.,  214. 

Restoration  of  local  govern 
ment,  64. 

Robinson,  Hon.  W.  S.  O'B., 
44,  205. 

Rock,  Calvin,  190. 

Rodwell,  J.  R.,  178. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  157,  271. 

Rountree,  George,  149. 

Russell,  Governor,  215,  217. 

Scarborough,  John  C,  116. 
Schafer  Bros,  bond  claim,  103. 
Schools,       public,      insufficient, 

115. 
Secession,  right  of,  312. 
Self  government,  local,  213. 
Senatorial  corruption,  295,  338. 
Senators,    election    of    by    the 

people,  355. 
Seymour,  Hon.  Augustus  S.,  48. 
Shakespeare,  William,  182. 
Shepherd,  Judge  James  E.,  209. 
Shipman,  M.  L.,  164. 
Simmons,  F.  McL.,  71,  80,  167, 

197,  202. 


Simonton,    Judge    Charles    H., 

108. 
Small,  John  H.,  44. 
Smedes,  A.  K.,  44. 
Smith,  John  R.,  305. 
Southern  Education  Board,  119. 
South  Dakota  suit,  102. 
Special  interests,  338. 
States'  rights,  313. 
Stengel,  Doctor,  204. 
Strange,  Robert,  23. 
Strong,  Judge  Geo.  V.,  44. 
Suit  of  South  Dakota,  102. 
Suffrage    amendment,    73,    117, 

135. 
Suffrage  campaign  of  1900,  73. 
Suffrage,  universal,  212. 

Tarbell,  Ida  M.,  184. 
Tariff  for  revenue  only,  300. 
Tariff  platform,  A.,  346. 
Tariff,  protective,  296,  331,  342. 

343. 
Taxation,  293,  330. 
Taylor,  Senator  Bob,  205. 
Temperance  legislation,  260. 
Tennyson,  Lord  Alfred,  182. 
Thomas,  Charles  R.,  23. 
Thompson,  Dr.  Cyrus,  71,  79. 
Tillet,  Charles  W.,  188,  197. 
Toon,  Gen.  Thomas  F.,  78,  93, 

118,  121. 
Toombs,  Robert,  196. 
Trusts,  the,  296,  336,  338,  348 
Turner,  W.  D.,  78. 
Twain,  Mark,  179 

Underwood,  Oscar,  347. 
Universal  education,  316. 

Van  Dyke,  Dr.   Henry,   182, 
183. 

Watts  law,  98. 
White,  Congressman,  218. 
Whitfield,  Col.  Nathan  B..  143. 
Wiley,  Calvin  H.,  255. 
Wilkinson,  Miss,  4. 


INDEX 


369 


Williams,   Prof.   Henry  Horace, 

23,  26,  27. 
Wilson  Collegiate  Institute,  18. 
Wilson,  Gov.  Woodrow,  347. 
Winston,  Hon.  Francis  D.,  21, 

£3,  44. 
Winston,  Judge  Robert  W.,  23, 

85,  42,  49;   191. 


Wood,  Frank,  27. 

Woodard,  Miss  Cora  Lily,  19, 

208. 
Woodard,  Miss  Varina  Davis, 

19,  208. 

Yodbb,  Fbed  R,,  200. 


The  Country  Lite  Press 
Garden  City,  N.  Y. 


